Lockheed Martin [LMT] announced the award of $194 million from the Army Aviation & Missile Command for production of the combat-proven Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS).
The contract includes the ATACMS Quick Reaction Unitary and the Block IA Missiles.
ATACMS is a long-range missile artillery round designed specifically for destroying high-priority targets at ranges up to 300 kilometers. Able to deliver a wide variety of warhead options, it can operate in all climate and light conditions while remaining beyond the range of most conventional weapons.
“Combat-proven ATACMS adds to the concept of ‘joint fires interdependence’ by offering the right munition to achieve the right effect at the right time, regardless of the color of the uniform you’re wearing,” Col. Gary Kinne, Training and Doctrine Command Capabilities Manager for Rocket and Missile Systems at Fort Sill, Okla., said in a statement. “The Army’s first surface-to-surface, long-range, all-weather, precision attack capability used in combat, ATACMS provides the Joint Force Commander an immediately available, lethal asset to attack time-sensitive and high value stationary or fixed targets in both open and constrained environments (complex/urban terrain)….Its precision reach affords the ability to provide responsive, long-range lateral supporting fires as well as shaping fires that set the conditions for decisive victory. This flexibility enables support of non- standard and direct support missions in addition to the more traditional role of general support to a corps or Joint Task Force. Evolving tactics and techniques will enhance its utility well into the foreseeable future.”
During the first Operation Desert Storm, ATACMS became the first tactical surface-to-surface missile the Army ever fired in combat. ATACMS is an evolutionary family of missiles which scored numerous successes again in Operation Iraqi Freedom, during which 456 missiles were fired.
“ATACMS is performing excellently for our warfighters,” Jim Gribschaw, director of Precision Fires at Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control, said.
The ATACMS Unitary missile is a responsive, all weather, long-range missile, with a high explosive, fragmentation, multifunctional warhead fired from the Multiple Launch Rocket System (MLRS) family of launchers. This system will have a much more efficient logistical footprint, while it will expand the traditional ATACMS target-set.
ATACMS is fired from the Multiple Launch Rocket System (MLRS) family of launchers, including the original M270, the M270 Improved Position Determining System (IPDS), the M270A1 and the new High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) launchers. The M270, M270-IPDS and M270A1 launchers can carry two ATACMS missiles, or 12 MLRS rockets, in a full load. HIMARS carries a single ATACMS missile, or six MLRS rockets, and can be transported by C-130.
A single ATACMS missile can defeat company-size targets beyond the range of current Army cannons and rockets. The first launch of an ATACMS missile was April 26, 1988, at White Sands Missile Range, NM.