The Army has awarded Lockheed Martin [LMT] a $62 million contract modification to move onto the engineering and manufacturing development phase of the Precision Strike Missile (PrSM) program.
The deal follows a completed Milestone B evaluation and a series of successful PrSM flight tests.
Lockheed Martin last received a $180.7 million contract last June for the PrSM Enhanced Technical Maturation and Risk Reduction (ETMRR) phase, which covered the build of four missiles, three more demonstrations and subsystem qualification work (Defense Daily, June 17 2020).
PrSM is the Army’s program to replace its legacy ATACMS missiles, also built by Lockheed Martin, with officials noting the base weapon is set to reach ranges out past 500 kilometers, while subsequent technology spirals will push to ranges of 700 to 800 kilometers.
In May, Lockheed Martin conducted the farthest PrSM test shot to date, reaching a range of 400 kilometers during a demonstration at White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico (Defense Daily, May 12).
The fourth successful PrSM flight test will be followed by a maximum range test shot above 499 kilometers this fall at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California and the first side-by-side missile firing at the Army’s next Project Convergence demonstration at Yuma Proving Ground in Arizona.
Gaylia Campbell, vice president of precision fires at Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control, previously told reporters the company expects a production contract for an Early Operational Capability set of missiles in the second half of this year.
Brig. Gen. John Rafferty, director of the Long Range Precision Fires Cross-Functional Team, told Defense Daily earlier this year it’s critical to begin building the initial set of PrSM missiles this year to meet the 2023 delivery date (Defense Daily, Feb. 10).