Following a recent $861-million Pentagon award to manufacture High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS), Lockheed Martin has drawn a $221-million contract modification for Multiple Launch Rocket System requirements.
The fulfillment date is April 30, 2028. The number of the MLRS to be provided was not detailed in the Dept. of Defense announcement.
Manufacturing will be done at Lockheed plants in Grand Prairie and New Boston, Tex., and Camden Ark.
The new contract draws funding from FY 2022 and 2024 missile procurement budgets, U.S. Army funds, FY 2024 Foreign Military Sales funds (for Finland), and FY 2024 cooperative partners funds (Italy, U.K.)
The U.S. Army and other defense forces deploy various platforms described as “multiple launch rocket systems,” all of them derived from the M270, which is mounted on an armored, tracked mobile launcher and carries 12 rockets in two pods. That system is capable of delivering rockets from the MLRS series of rockets and missiles, which are widely manufactured and used by different launch platforms.
Guided Multiple Launch Rocket Systems have GPS-supported navigation and extended-range rockets.
Since May 2022, the MLRS and HIMARS combination has been supplied by the U.S. to Ukraine, during the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war.
