Army looks to add third CAML system, Lozano says

Soldiers fired an earlier iteration of the Autonomous Multi-domain Launcher in June of 2025. On Aug. 21, 2026, the Army announced the award of a prototype Other Transaction Agreement to the Georgia Tech Research Institute, Atlanta, Georgia, to serve as the Weapon Systems Integrator. (U.S. Army National Guard photo by Sgt. Grayson Cavaliere)

WASHINGTON — The Army is looking to expand its Common Autonomous Multi-Domain Launcher (CAML) program by adding a third, light variant in partnership with the Australian military.

“I’ve been asked by the vice [chief of staff] and our acting chief to execute in conjunction with the Australians a CAML-light sprint to help the Australians meet some of their capability requirements,” Lt. Gen. Frank Lozano, the Portfolio Acquisition Executive for Fires, told an audience at the annual AUSA conference Wednesday.

He added that a request for information (RFI) will be coming out in the near future, and the service is looking to make some “early selections” in the March to April timeframe that could result in a a “potential” live-fire demo in either June or July , later leading to a down select.

Lozano did not disclose details on why the Army is looking for a light variant — the Army has previously stated it was looking for just medium and heavy variants — nor did he share details on the Australian military’s role in the program.

The CAML program is set to serve as a replacement for the Army’s Typhon — its Mid-Range Capability (MRC) long-range launcher — after the service discovered it was too large to operate on the battlefield. The new launchers will be an autonomous, optionally crewed, “highly mobile” cross-domain fires launcher designed to be air transportable.

The announcement of the light variant comes after the service awarded Georgia Tech Research Institute in September up to $33.4 million to be the lead weapons systems integrator for the medium variant of CAML. Lozano said Wednesday that a munitions palette provider and the autonomous platform provider for the medium program should be awarded in the next 30 days.

As for the heavy variant, Lozano said Wednesday that his office is “starting to look” at the 2028-2029 timeframe for the launcher.

“We’re looking at a strategy here where we take a scenario where we don’t have every missile having its own unique launcher and [we’re] trying to collapse down [to] a maximum of three,” Lozano said. “But that generically is the timeline, and we massage and adjust that timeline as we learn more about industry’s capabilities to deliver what we need.”

Similar to the medium CAML variant, Lozano emphasized that there will be more than one vendor working on the light variant to avoid “m anufacturing constraint” on the defense industrial base. “We have to break the old tradition of doing a competition and going down to one vendor, and then going all in on one single vendor, because then you just created a sole source environment, a choke point, and a manufacturing constraint,” Lozano said. “The intent is we want to be able to have multiple different missile and munition solutions for every type of capability requirement we’re trying to develop.”

士兵们于2025年6月试射了早期版本的自主多域发射器。2026年8月21日，陆军宣布授予佐治亚理工学院（位于佐治亚州亚特兰大）一份原型“其他交易协议”，由其担任武器系统集成商。（美国陆军国民警卫队照片，摄影：格雷森·卡瓦列雷中士）

华盛顿——美国陆军正寻求扩大其通用自主多域发射器（CAML）计划，与澳大利亚军方合作，增加第三种轻型型号。

“副参谋长和代理参谋长要求我与澳大利亚方面合作，执行一项轻量级的CAML冲刺计划，以帮助澳大利亚满足他们的一些能力需求，”负责火力采购的弗兰克·洛萨诺中将周三在AUSA年度会议上对听众说道。

他还补充说，近期将发布一份信息征询书（RFI），该部门希望在三月至四月期间做出一些“早期选择”，这可能会在六月或七月进行一次“潜在的”实弹演示，之后再进行最终选择。

洛萨诺没有透露陆军为何要寻求轻型型号的细节——陆军此前曾表示只寻求中型和重型型号——也没有分享澳大利亚军方在该项目中扮演的角色。

CAML项目旨在取代陆军的“台风”（Typhon）——其中程远程（MRC）发射器——此前陆军发现“台风”体积过大，不适宜在战场上使用。新型发射器将是一款自主式、可选乘员的“高机动性”跨域火力发射器，设计用于空运。

在宣布轻型版本之前，美国军方于9月份授予佐治亚理工学院研究机构高达3340万美元的合同，委托其担任CAML中型武器系统集成商。洛萨诺周三表示，中型项目的弹药托盘供应商和自主平台供应商预计将在未来30天内确定。

至于重型版本，洛萨诺周三表示，他的办公室“开始考虑”在 2028-2029 年推出该发射器。

洛萨诺说：“我们正在研究一种策略，即不让每枚导弹都配备专属发射器，而是尽量将发射器的数量减少到最多三个。但这大致是时间表，我们会根据对业界交付所需产品能力的了解，对时间表进行调整。”

与中型CAML导弹类似，洛萨诺强调，轻型CAML导弹的研发将由多家供应商共同完成，以避免国防工业基地的“生产能力受限”。洛萨诺表示：“我们必须打破以往的模式，不再通过竞标最终选定一家供应商，然后全力依赖单一供应商，因为那样只会造成单一来源供应的局面，形成瓶颈，并限制生产能力。我们的目标是，针对我们正在开发的各种能力需求，提供多种不同的导弹和弹药解决方案。”