Lockheed Martin [LMT] recently announced that its new Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System-Plus (GMLRS+) extended-range rocket successfully completed a 120-kilometer mission at White Sands Missile Range, N.M., an improvement in range of approximately 50 kilometers (31 miles) over the current GMLRS round.
According to a company press release, a team of engineers from Lockheed Martin and Aerojet, the GMLRS rocket motor manufacturer, are developing GMLRS+ as a proposed follow-on version of the existing GMLRS to extend the rocket’s range, add a capability for a “scalable-effects” warhead, and allow it to operate within the current High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) and MLRS M270A1 launcher force structure. Lockheed Martin is the prime contractor on the GMLRS program.
The company added that this test was the first of two Lockheed Martin-funded GMLRS+ launches planned for 2011. The second test in late fall will evaluate the scalable-effects warhead designed to offer multiple distinct outputs, which can be selected before launch.
Aerojet [GY], a world-recognized producer of missile and space propulsion systems and defense armaments, was selected for the test phase as the GMLRS+ warhead and rocket-motor supplier after a two-month evaluation and selection process.