Guided Rocket Successfully Demonstrated Extended Range

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The U.S. Army’s new extended-range version of its Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System (GMLRS) had a successful 80-kilometer flight demonstration at White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico.

The ER GMLRS is part of a family of precision-strike missiles that can guide itself to a designated target using GPS. 

The GMLRS’ munition is manufactured by Lockheed Martin which has worked with the Army to double the rocket’s reach through extended-range capability development.

The demonstration flight comes after a first flight test in November 2020 reflected a technical problem. The company incorporated “minor enhancements to mitigate recurrence,” and the successful flight test on March 4 showed those enhancements solved the issue, the company said. It was fired from the US Army’s High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) launcher.

The GMLRS rocket has a global positioning system (GPS) and inertial guidance package and small canards on the rocket nose to enhance accuracy.

“Our new Extended-Range GMLRS significantly increases the range of the current system, offering the choice of munitions for longer distances and improving options with the same reliability and accuracy our customers have come to expect,” Gaylia Campbell, vice president of precision fires and combat maneuver systems at Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control, said in the statement.

The release added that the demo “confirmed the missile’s flight trajectory performance, range and validated interfaces with the HIMARS launcher and system software performance.”

The Army has now completed two of the four engineering development test flights planned. The remaining flights are planned in the second quarter of the year, Lockheed confirmed to Defensenews.com. The ultimate goal is to get the rocket to reach 150-plus kilometers.