If the U.S. decides to provide Ukraine with long-range ATACMS missiles, the Army’s acquisition chief said Tuesday the service would look to replenish its stockpile of that weapon with the new Precision Strike Missile (PrSM).
Doug Bush, the Army’s assistant secretary for acquisition, logistics and technology, told reporters that, as far as he knows, no final decision has been made yet on providing Ukraine with the Lockheed Martin
[LMT]-built ATACMS.
“With regard to the hypothetical if ATACMS were provided, the Army would likely try to use funding, instead of going back to ATACMS, to instead produce additional early versions of the PrSM Inc. 1, if we got to that point. Because, of course, that’s the missile we want to go to. It’s better than ATACMS,” Bush said during a media roundtable discussion. “ATACMS is still a very good system. But that would be our goal if we could pull that off.”
PrSM is also built by Lockheed Martin and is the Army’s program to replace ATACMS, with the base weapon reaching ranges up to 500 kilometers and future increments looking to double the new capability’s range.
While the U.S. has been delivering GMLRS rockets for the HIMARS launchers it has provided to Ukraine, both also built by Lockheed Martin, it has yet to commit to sending longer-range ATACMS missiles.
ATACMS can reach out to 300 kilometers, more than three times the ability of GMLRS’ max range.
Ukraine has consistently reiterated its request for longer-range missiles to assist in its fight against Russia’s ongoing invasion, with the Biden administration now reportedly leaning toward considering donating the weapon in future security aid packages.
Bush noted the president would ultimately have to make the call on whether to provide Ukraine with ATACMS, and said the Army has been providing data to senior leaders to inform any potential decision.
“It’s really just a question of whether to provide [ATACMS] or not. If the decision is made, the Army is prepared to do that,” Bush told reporters. “As far as I know, there has been no final decision made yet.”
The Army’s FY ‘24 budget request detailed plans to buy 110 more PrSM Inc. 1 weapons and have first prototype delivery in the fourth quarter of next fiscal year (Defense Daily, March 13).
Gen. James McConville, who recently retired as Army chief, said over the last year that efforts to replenish stockpiles of equipment sent to Ukraine should focus on bringing in upgraded capabilities rather than buying “new old stuff” (Defense Daily, Jan. 18).