Lockheed Martin’s [LMT] new Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System (GMLRS) Alternative Warhead heads toward Initial Operational Test and Evaluation in the fall after successfully completing all Developmental Test/Operational Test (DT/OT) flight tests at White Sands Missile Range, N.M.

The DT/OT tests included rockets fired at both mid- and long-range, the company said July 28 in a statement. All rockets were fired from a High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) launcher.

GMLRS Alternative Warhead Firing Photo: Lockheed Martin
GMLRS Alternative Warhead Firing

Photo: Lockheed Martin

The DT/OT tests were the first tactically representative flight tests against simulated targets and were also the first tests conducted with soldiers operating the fire control system.

“With actual soldiers at the controls in realistic battlefield conditions, the team achieved all of the mission objectives,” said Ken Musculus, vice president of Tactical Missiles at Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control.

In April 2012, Lockheed Martin received a $79.4 million contract from the Defense Department to develop the Alternative Warhead Program (AWP). Under the terms of the contract, the Engineering, Manufacturing and Development phase of the program runs 36 months, focusing on system performance, warhead qualification and producibility.

The Alternative Warhead is designed to engage the same target set and achieve the same area-effects requirement as the GMLRS submunitions warhead, but without the lingering danger of unexploded ordnance. The Alternative Warhead is being developed by ATK [ATK] under subcontract to Lockheed Martin.

The AWP is part of a plan to create a GMLRS variant which meets the DoD’s cluster-munition policy. The Lockheed Martin GMLRS AWP will also be compliant with the provisions of the Convention on Cluster Munitions international treaty.