Extended-range GMLRS flies 80 km in test

An extended-range version of the Army's Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System flew 80 kilometers in a recent test, Lockheed Martin announced March 4.

"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 at Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control, said in a press release about the demonstration.

The test round was launched from the Army's High Mobility Artillery Rocket System at the White Sands Missile Range, NM, according to Lockheed.

"The demonstration confirmed the missile's flight trajectory performance, range and validated interfaces with the HIMARS launcher and system software performance," the company stated.

The GMLRS is the Army's surface-to-surface rocket system, launched from either the HIMARS, which is mounted on the chassis of a wheeled 5-ton truck, or the M270 Multiple Launch Rocket System, which is on a tracked chassis.

One missile was fired during the test, Angela Marcum, a Lockheed spokeswoman, wrote in an email to Inside Defense.

This was the second test of the extended-range version of the GMLRS, Marcum wrote. The round failed in the first test, in November.

"During the flight test, the round experienced an anomaly after launch," Marcum wrote. "After a thorough investigation, the cause was determined to be a technical issue with a fin."

Lockheed made "minor enhancements" to the round's design to fix that issue, she wrote.

There will be two more test flights in the second quarter of calendar year 2021, Marcum wrote. Both of these will extend the distance beyond 80 km.

The extended range version that is being tested is expected to reach at least 150 km, she wrote. The current GMLRS can fire from 15 km to more than 70km.