The Army is seeking industry’s information on potential weapon offerings to replace its TOW anti-tank guided missiles, detailing desired characteristics and plans to hold a capability demonstration by the third quarter of fiscal year 2025.
The Request for Information notice, released on June 21, for the Close Combat Missile System-Heavy (CCMS-H) program specifically seeks input on weapon systems in production or prototyping that could offer advanced capabilities over the current
Raytheon Technologies [RTX]-built TOW missile.
“The CCMS-H will be used in shaping operations and the close combat fight. The munition should be maneuverable to engage and defeat Tier 1 armored threats and field fortifications in the open or in [protection],” the Army writes in its RFI. “The munition system should enable semi-simultaneous engagements of multiple threats from single or multiple platforms by a single leader while ensuring distribution of fires and managing over-kill.”
Key attributes for a future munitions solution for CCMS-H would include dual-command guidance and the ability to incorporate reprogrammable target prioritization, according to the Army.
The Army plans for CCMS-H to “initially augment existing stockpiles of the TOW Family of Missiles,” with a goal for any replacement system to be compatible with existing TOW platforms and launchers, according to the RFI.
Industry’s responses to the RFI are expected to detail how potential systems would meet a series of CCMS-H “desired characteristics,” including four areas the Army says are “not tradeable.”
Those include the ability for any system to operate in GPS-denied or degraded environments, maintaining reliability after 10 years in storage, the ability to defeat Tier 1 armored threats, to include those equipped with soft and hard-kill active protection systems, and capability to fire from existing TOW missile launchers.
The remaining characteristics in the RFI outside of the “not tradeable” group include reaching direct fire ranges of at least 4,500 meters, have a reduced engagement time compared to current capabilities and the ability to provide aided target detection to users while the munition is in flight.
Responses to the RFI, due to the Army by Aug. 22, are expected to detail any potential systems’ weight, size, required power, sensors and warhead type, a list of platforms capable of firing the weapons and identifying which of the desired characteristics the system would be able to currently meet.
The eventual CCMS-H industry capability demonstration will be held no earlier than the third quarter of FY ‘23, according to the RFI.