Article Posted on : - Jan 08, 2015

An ATACMS missile blasts out of its launcher during a test flight. A Lockheed Martin photo

DALLAS (BNS): The US Army has awarded a contract worth US$78 million to Lockheed Martin to upgrade the Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS).

The program will take hardware from early-production ATACMS Block 1 missiles and develop an enhanced and affordable weapon system capable of eliminating targets without the risk of unexploded ordnance, which meets the U.S. Army's long-range precision strike requirement, Lockheed announced on Jan. 7.

The programme's first phase will include flight tests, followed by production beginning in 2016, it said.

The ATACMS is the US Army's only tactical long-range precision strike surface-to-surface weapon.

Lockheed Martin has produced over 3,700 ATACMS missiles in the past 20 years, with more than 560 of them fired in combat missions.

Each ATACMS missile is packaged in a Guided Missile Launch Assembly pod and is fired from the Multiple Launch Rocket System (MLRS) family of launchers.