The US Army has awarded a contract worth $364m to Lockheed Martin for the production of the army tactical missile system (ATACMS) missiles.
The ATACMS long-range guided missile is a conventional surface-to-surface artillery weapon system capable of hitting targets beyond the range of existing army cannons, rockets and other missiles.
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Under the deal, the company will be responsible for delivering the ATACMS missiles to the US army and a foreign military sales (FMS) customer.
The current project will allow the two military services to upgrade their existing Block 1 missiles with new technology and provide the warfighters with the latest surface-to-surface missile capability.
This contract will also help double the missile’s range and extend shelf life by more than ten years.
Lockheed Martin will manufacture both the service life extension programme (SLEP) and the new ATACMS missiles at the company’s Precision Fires Production Center of Excellence in Camden, Arkansas, US.
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By GlobalDataAll weapons to be developed under this contract are to be delivered to the armed forces by January 2021.
To date, the company has manufactured more than 3,850 ATACMS missiles, of which more than 600 ATACMS have been fired in combat.
The weapon system has demonstrated extremely high rates of accuracy and reliability while in theatre.
Each of the Lockheed Martin missiles is incorporated into a guided missile launch assembly pod and is fired from the multiple launch rocket system (MLRS) family of launchers, such as the M270 and M270A1.
