Lockheed Martin [LMT] on Wednesday said it has successfully demonstrated a proof-of-concept for providing target updates in flight to an aircraft acting as a surrogate for the Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System (GMLRS).
The captive-carry test involved Lockheed Martin’s ground-based Remote Interceptor Guidance (RIG)-360 uplinker prototype sending target updates to a data link on the aircraft that is being evaluated for experimental use on the Multiple Launch Rocket System family of munitions. The company said the aircraft was flown to represent a rocket’s surface to surface trajectory.
The recent test occurred at White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico.
Integrating the data link on missiles with the RIG-360 would enable long-range fires to receive inflight updates to attack mobile and relocatable targets with precision.
Lockheed Martin said a joint fires test is planned in 2024 to validate in-flight target update capabilities on a missile. GMLRS are guided-missile rounds the company manufactures.
“This is a beg step forward to advancing the U.S. Army’s Joint Fires vision,” Scott Arnold, vice president of Integrated Air and Missile Defense at Lockheed Martin’s Missiles and Fire Control segment, said in a statement. “This proof-of-concept aims to enable Army deep-strike capabilities with offensive fires against moving targets in contested environments, a critical capability to drive agility within the U.S. Army’s connected network and keep our customers ahead of evolving threats.”
The RIG-360, developed by Lockheed Martin internally, can provide 360-degree in-flight communications. Lockheed Martin has a development contract to mature the technology into a tactical capability and eventually field RIG-360 for Army integrated air-and-missile defense.