Army taps 5 companies for PrSM Inc 4 prototypes

Lockheed Martin has released a rendering for its vision of what a PrSM Increment 4 missile might look like. (Lockheed Martin)

WASHINGTON — The Ar my has selected five companies to develop prototypes for the Precision Strike Missile (PrSM) Increment 4 program, restarting the competition for the service’s next long-range strike weapon.

Anduril, Castelion, Lockheed Martin, RTX and Mach Industries each received Other Transaction Authority (OTA) agreements to build prototype missiles, the service announced Tuesday. The Increment 4 missile is intended to hit moving maritime and land targets at ranges of at least 1,000 km (621 miles) — roughly double the range of the Army’s PrSM baseline.

The announcement did not disclose the value of the OTAs and a spokesperson from Program Acquisition Executive (PAE) Fires did not respond to a request for comment by the time of publication.

Per the announcement, each company will be tasked with developing prototype missiles capable of launching from the M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS). According t o an April solicitation from PAE Fires, the system must also have an open systems architecture — meaning operators can plug new hardware and software into the platform — and be able to operate in the Indo-Pacific “consistent with the supplied operational scenario.”

The five vendors will participate in a competitive fly-off in fiscal 2027, after which the Army will conduct the program’s first down select, the service said. In fiscal 2028, the companies will hold a final fly-off, and the final down select could occur in fiscal 2030, according to the solicitation.

Tuesday’s announcement comes after the service reopened the PrSM Increment 4 competition when it posted the new solicitation in April. The Army had previously awarded contracts to Lockheed Martin and an RTX-Northrop Grumman team in 2023 to begin developing the missile.

Neither Lockheed nor RTX responded to requests for comment by the time of publication regarding whether the previous awards carried over to the new O TAs. Anduril, Castelion and Mach Industries also did not respond to a request for comment on their proposed solutions.

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In June, Lockheed touted its PrSM Increment 4 solution after a testing event at one of L3Harris’ propulsion facilities. The missile “demonstrated a flawless booster‑to‑ramjet handoff,” marking a “pivotal advanced propulsion milestone,” Lockheed said in a press release . The companies were set to begin conducting full flight tests this fall.

Tuesday’s announcement comes two weeks after the Army awarded Lockheed a $1.2 billion contract for the company’s “early operational capability” PrSM Increment 2 system, a missile with a multimode seeker capable of hitting maritime targets on the move. The PrSM Increment 2 capability — also referred to as the Land-Based Anti-Ship Missile seeker — is designed to travel up to 500 km (310.7 miles) in combat, as Breaking Defense previously reported.

Further, the Army used its PrSM Increment 1 capabilities for the first time in combat in March during the on-and-off again conflict in Iran. Since then, reports have surfaced that the US has used “virtually all” of its PrSM systems.

洛克希德·马丁公司发布了其对PrSM第四阶段导弹的设想效果图。（洛克希德·马丁公司）

华盛顿——美国陆军已选定五家公司为精确打击导弹（PrSM）第四阶段计划开发原型，重新启动了该军种下一代远程打击武器的竞争。

美国陆军周二宣布，Anduril、Castelion、洛克希德·马丁、RTX和Mach Industries分别获得了其他交易授权（OTA）协议，用于建造原型导弹。这款名为“Increment 4”的导弹旨在打击射程至少1000公里（621英里）的移动海上和陆地目标——大约是陆军PrSM导弹基线射程的两倍。

公告并未披露OTA的价值，截至发稿时，项目采购执行机构（PAE）Fires的发言人尚未回应置评请求。

根据公告，每家公司都将负责开发能够从M142高机动性火箭炮系统（HIMARS）发射的原型导弹。根据PAE Fires公司4月份发布的招标书，该系统还必须具备开放式系统架构——这意味着操作人员可以将新的硬件和软件接入该平台——并且能够在印太地区“按照所提供的作战场景”进行作战。

陆军表示，这五家供应商将于2027财年参加竞标飞行测试，之后陆军将进行该项目的第一轮筛选。根据招标文件，这些公司将于2028财年举行最终竞标飞行测试，最终筛选可能在2030财年进行。

周二的公告是在该军种于4月份发布新的招标公告，重新启动PrSM第四阶段导弹研发项目之后发布的。此前，陆军已于2023年与洛克希德·马丁公司和RTX-诺斯罗普·格鲁曼公司组成的联合团队签订合同，启动该导弹的研发工作。

截至发稿时，洛克希德·马丁公司和RTX公司均未回应关于先前合同是否适用于新的O TA的置评请求。Anduril、Castelion和Mach Industries也未回应关于其解决方案的置评请求。

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今年6月，洛克希德·马丁公司在L3Harris公司的一处推进系统设施进行测试后，大力宣传了其PrSM第四阶段解决方案。洛克希德·马丁公司在一份新闻稿中表示，该导弹“完美地实现了助推器到冲压发动机的切换”，标志着“先进推进技术的一个关键里程碑”。两家公司原计划于今年秋季开始进行全面飞行测试。

周二的公告发布于陆军授予洛克希德·马丁公司一份价值12亿美元的合同两周之后，该合同旨在采购该公司“早期作战能力”PrSM Increment 2系统，这是一种配备多模式导引头的导弹，能够打击移动中的海上目标。正如《防务新闻》此前报道，PrSM Increment 2（也被称为陆基反舰导弹导引头）的设计射程可达500公里（310.7英里）。

此外，陆军在3月份与伊朗断断续续的冲突中首次在实战中使用了其PrSM第一阶段的能力。此后，有报道称美国已“几乎全部”使用了其PrSM系统。