Article Posted on : - Aug 10, 2011

Guided Unitary Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System (GMLRS) rocket. Photo: Lockheed Martin.

DALLAS, TEXAS (BNS): Lockheed Martin’s new Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System-Plus (GMLRS+) extended-range rocket successfully completed a 120-kilometer mission at White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico, an improvement in range of approximately 50 kilometers (31 miles) over the current GMLRS round.

"With this latest test, we have demonstrated the GMLRS+ range that our soldiers and Marines have been requesting. While adding this new capability, we are still retaining the system’s affordability, precision and reliability," Scott Arnold, vice president of precision fires in Lockheed Martin’s Missiles and Fire Control business, was quoted as saying in a Lockheed Martin news release.

This test was the first of two Lockheed Martin-funded GMLRS+ launches planned for 2011.

The second test will assess the scalable-effects warhead in late fall. The scalable-effects warhead will offer multiple distinct outputs, which can be selected prior to launch.

Engineers from Lockheed Martin and Aerojet, the GMLRS rocket motor manufacturer, are developing GMLRS+ as a proposed follow-on version of the existing Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System to further extend the rocket’s range and add a new capability for a "scalable-effects" warhead.

GMLRS+ is a Lockheed Martin internal research and development program to upgrade the combat-proven GMLRS Unitary system, and integrate new capabilities into the existing GMLRS guidance/navigation package and airframe.

It will accommodate various warheads, and will operate seamlessly within the current High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) and MLRS M270A1 launcher force structure.