The Navy has successfully completed its first live-fire test of the land attack munition slated for the DDG-1000’s Advanced Gun System, the service said yesterday.
The Navy conducted two tests of the Long Range Land Attack Projectile (LRLAP) at the White Sands Missile Range, N.M., on Aug. 30 as part of the engineering and manufacturing development phase.
LRLAP is a 155mm rocket-assisted guided projectile to support land-attack and naval surface fire support operations for the Advanced Gun System on the Zumwalt-class destroyers.
“This test success represents a key milestone in development of the land-attack capability and represents a significant step in the tactical maturation of the LRLAP,” Capt. Tim Batzler, the Navy’s surface weapons program manager for Integrated Warfare Systems, said.
The munitions traveled 45 nautical miles and met the objectives that included successful launches, GPS acquisition, warhead functionality and accuracy.
Lockheed Martin [LMT] was subcontracted by BAE Systems to develop LRLAP.
The Navy has issued contracts for the construction of three DDG-1000s, the full amount planned for the class. The Navy last week awarded a $1.8 billion contract for the for the construction of the DDG-1001 and DDG-1002 to General Dynamics‘ [GD] Bath Iron Works (Defense Daily, Sept. 16).
Bath Iron Works had already begun construction on the first ship of the class, the USS Zumwalt, which is scheduled for delivery in FY ’14. DDG-1001 is expected to be delivered in fiscal year 2015, with delivery of DDG-1002 in FY ’18.
General Dynamics said the USS Zumwalt is 50 percent complete.