Lockheed Martin’s [LMT] modernized Tactical Missile System (TACMS) missile completed its third and fourth successful flight tests at the White Sands Missile Range, NM, the company said Monday.
These tests occurred in December and early February. In the first test a TACMS successfully engaged and destroyed a target in 44 miles down range. The second test had the TACMS destroy a White Sands target at a range of over 124 miles. The missiles were launched in both instances from a High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) launcher and were originally produced by Lockheed Martin’s Precision Fires Production Center of Excellence in Camden, Ark.
The modernized TACMS tests are part of the U.S. Army’s TACMS Service Life Extension Program wherein the modernized missile will include new state-of-the-art guidance electronics and a capability to defeat area targets without leaving behind unexploded ordinance, Lockheed Martin said.
The modernization process disassembles and demilitarizes the TACMS Block 1 and 1A submunition warheads, replaces them with new unitary warheads, and brings them into compliance with Defense Department policy on cluster munitions and unintended harm to civilians. This process also resets the missile’s over 10-year shelf life.
Cluster munitions can pose a threat to civilians when unexploded submunitions hurt or kill them after combat operations have ended.
Lockheed Martin earlier won a $74 million contract with the Army to modernize existing TACMS missiles in the inventory.
“With our third and fourth consecutive successful modernized TACMS flights, I believe we have demonstrated that our production quality and new technology are ready to move forward. These modernized TACMS missiles will allow our warfighters to quickly and accurately address imprecisely located targets on the battlefield,” Scott Greene, vice president of Lockheed Martin’s missiles and fire control business area section precision fires and combat maneuver systems, said in a statement.