BELFAST — US giant Lockheed Martin and German manufacturer Rheinmetall have jointly conducted the first live fire of the Global Mobile Artillery Rocket System (GMARS) launcher during a test demonstration to prove reliability with Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System (GMLRS) rounds.
The industry partners announced the firing demonstration, held at White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico, in a statement on Monday, which included Björn Bernhard, CEO Rheinmetall Vehicle Systems Europe, sharing that the event “showcases the system’s precision and reliability, and we are confident that GMARS will meet the evolving needs of our customers.”
The range achieved from the live fire exercise and any targets hit were not disclosed, but Rheinmetall company literature states that GMARS can aid “fire support missions up to a range of 400+ km,” or beyond 248 miles.
Sharing a broad overview of the live fire event, Lockheed and Rheinmetall said it “marked a significant milestone in the GMARS development program, which aims to provide military customers with a European-built highly mobile, survivable and versatile long-range precision fires capability.”
As noted in the statement, the launcher can be fitted with “an enhanced loadout” comprising two MGM-140 Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS), four Precision Strike Missiles (PrSM), 12 Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System (GMLRS) standard range rounds or 12 GMLRS extended range units. “Germany and allied nations across the globe” currently field GMLRS rockets, “reinforcing interoperability and supporting joint operations,” according to the statement.
Additionally, Lockheed and Rheinmetall said they consider the GMARS launcher an “ideal solution” for European armed forces because it is evolved from the latter’s HX vehicle and therefore “offers a high degree of interoperability and interchangeability” with M270A2 and M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) launchers.
“The system’s ability to launch current and future state-of-the-art long-range and extended-long-range rocket fire missions provides a significant advantage on the modern battlefield,” the two manufacturers said, adding they are “poised to rapidly qualify and bring this capability to market,” per comment in the statement from Paula Hartley, vice president and general manager of Tactical Missiles at Lockheed Martin.
As previously reported by Breaking Defense, GMARS talks are already underway, covering “four or five potential European customers,” according to Rheinmetall chairman Armin Papperger.
The GMARS two-pod system launcher was initially designed to replace Germany’s MARS 2 system. Lockheed joined forces with its German industry partner in 2023 in a bid to meet “growing demand for long-range rocket artillery,” according to Rheinmetall.
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Author: Tim Martin
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