Lockheed Martin [LMT] on Monday said it successfully conducted the second Production Qualification Test (PQT) recently for the new Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System (GMLRS) Alternative Warhead at White Sands Missile Range, N.M.
Four rockets were fired from a M270A1 launcher and destroyed their respective targets approximately 17 kilometers away.This test follows the initial successful PQT test conducted in October 2013.
Image: ATK
“Production Qualification Tests confirm our rocket design is in compliance with customer requirements,” said Ken Musculus, vice president of Tactical Missiles for Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control. “This successful test signifies we are on the right track to deliver a reliable, high-quality product to our customer.”
In April 2012, Lockheed Martin received a $79.4 million contract from the Department of Defense to develop the Alternative Warhead program. Under the terms of the contract, the engineering and manufacturing development phase of the program runs 36 months, focusing on system performance, warhead qualification and producibility.
The Alternative Warhead is designed to engage the same target set and achieve the same area-effects as the former GMLRS submunition warhead, but without the lingering danger of unexploded ordnance. The Alternative Warhead is being developed by ATK [ATK] under subcontract to Lockheed Martin. The Army chose ATK in December 2012 for the work (Defense Daily, Dec.2, 2012).
The Alternative Warhead program is part of a DoD plan to create a GMLRS variant that meets the department’s cluster munition policy.
Defense Department cluster munitions policy revision requires technology upgrades to mitigate harm to civilians and friendly troops. The new rules state that more than 99 percent of the submunitions that make up any given cluster bomb in the U.S. inventory must detonate on impact, thereby reducing the quantity of potentially dangerous unexploded ordnance left behind on a battlefield. The new regulations take effect in 2018 and apply to all DoD stockpiles and foreign military sales.
The Lockheed Martin GMLRS Alternative Warhead program will also be compliant with the provisions of the Convention on Cluster Munitions international treaty.