The Army has officially accepted delivery of the first Lockheed Martin [LMT]-built Precision Strike Missiles (PrSM), the service said on Friday.
Delivery of the PrSM Inc. 1 Early Operational Capability Missiles follows a successful production qualification test with the new weapon at White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico in November.
“The Precision Strike Missile will provide Joint Force commanders with a 24/7, all-weather capability that will counter the enemy’s ability to conduct combat maneuver and air defense operations,” Doug Bush, the Army’s acquisition chief, said in a statement. “The rapid development and delivery of this capability is a prime example of the Army’s aggressive use of new acquisition authorities from Congress that allow us to move at much greater speed to get improved equipment to soldiers.”
PrSM is the Army’s program to replace its legacy ATACMS missiles, also built by Lockheed Martin, with the base weapon reaching ranges up to 500 kilometers, while officials have noted future increments may push to double the capability’s range.
The new weapon is capable of being fired from HIMARS and Multiple Launch Rocket System launchers.
Lockheed Martin on Friday said subsequent deliveries of additional PrSM missiles will continue as the company continues ramping up manufacturing efforts under its current EOC contracts.
“Thanks to the close collaboration between Army and Lockheed Martin teams, we accelerated PrSM’s development program on an aggressive schedule to deliver this next-generation missile faster than ever before,” Jay Price, Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control’s vice president of precision fires, said in a statement. “We’re proud to help the Army achieve this top modernization priority for long-range deterrent capability.”
The Army has awarded three production contracts to Lockheed Martin to date for additional PrSM Inc. 1 EOC missiles, with Lockheed Martin having received the most recent deal in September.
The recent PrSM live fire for the production qualification test was a short-range demonstration with the new missile fired from a HIMARS launcher to hit a target set (Defense Daily, Nov. 17).
Earlier this year, the Army tapped Lockheed Martin and a team of RTX [RTX] and Northrop Grumman [NOC] for the Long Range Maneuverable Fires (LRMF) to work on developing long-range missile concepts to inform the design of a future extended range version of PrSM (Defense Daily, March 27).