Army taps Lockheed Martin for missile launchers with GPS-aided inertial navigation and proximity sensors

Questions and answers:

• What is the value of the order announced in August for the Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System (GMLRS)? $4.2 billion, bringing the total value of the contract to $13.3 billion.
• How far can the GMLRS system fire its rockets? As far as 26 miles, and the Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) can target up to 190 miles. Additionally, the future Precision Strike Missile (PrSM) can reach targets as far as 300 miles.
• What are the GMLRS chief electronic technologies? Guidance, safety, control, and communications manage flight control, navigation, and mission functions using GPS-aided inertial navigation and real-time software for trajectory corrections.

REDSTONE ARSENAL, Ala. – U.S. Army ground warfare experts are asking Lockheed Martin Corp. to continue full-rate production of Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System (GMLRS) missile launchers under terms of a $4.2 billion order announced in August.

Officials of the Army Contracting Command at Redstone Arsenal are asking the Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control segment in Grand Prairie, Texas, for GMLRS production, which can fire guided and unguided surface-to-surface missiles at targets as far away as 26 miles.

The system also can fire the Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) at targets as far away as 190 miles, as well as the future Precision Strike Missile (PrSM), which can attack land and sea targets from distances as far as 300 miles. This order brings the value of this contract to $13.3 billion.

The rocket-based artillery system fires its munitions quickly so as to move away quickly to avoid counter-battery fire. The GMLRS carries its guided munitions in pods that each contain six rockets. Each system carries two pods that must be loaded by hand. GMLRS can fire all of its 12 munitions in less than a minute.

GMLRS electronics

Electronic subsystems on GMLRS combine guidance, safety, control, and communications integrated into the rocket and launcher. GMLRS uses GPS-aided inertial navigation systems to guide rockets to their targets. Its enhanced guidance set uses multicore processors real-time operating software to manage flight control, navigation, and mission functions. The inertial measurement unit and programmable logic handle onboard trajectory corrections based on live positional data.

The fire-control panel is the operator interface for data entry, display, and mission programming, while the GMLRS electronics unit computes ballistic parameters and launch data. The stabilization reference package and position determining system provide orientation and slope data using gyroscopes and encoders.

GMLRS rockets feature electronic safe-and-arm devices with MEMS accelerometers, solid-state high voltage switches, and serial interfaces to support arming, firing, and detonation sequencing with real-time safety monitoring.

Radar-based proximity sensors feed data to tracking filters for optimized height-of-burst detonation via secure fuzing electronics. The launcher includes a primary power supply and power management electronics.

Launch vehicle communications processors manage encrypted command flows for fire control and security. Radios and intercoms are linked through embedded processor modules to enable synchronized launch operations and network connectivity. The GMLRS common fire control system integrates all major electronics for launching GMLRS rockets, including mission computing, data processing, and remote control of loader/position modules.

Tell me more about GPS-aided inertial navigation ...

• GPS-aided inertial navigation combines inertial navigation systems with Global Positioning System (GPS) data to provide accurate and reliable position, velocity, and attitude information. Inertial navigation works without external signals, but errors can accumulate (drift) over time. GPS provides absolute position and velocity using satellite signals, but is vulnerable to jamming, spoofing, multipath, or signal blockages. Integrating the two provides the short-term accuracy and continuity of INS with the long-term stability of GPS. and GPS corrects inertial drift by resetting position/velocity estimates periodically.

The system's alternative-warhead rocket is a large airburst fragmentation warhead that explodes about 30 feet over a target area to disperse solid-metal penetrating projectiles to destroy enemy soldiers, armored vehicles, command posts, and other battlefield targets. This version has been in production since 2015.

The long-range GMLRS unitary-warhead rocket is a GPS-guided munition with a 200-pound high-explosive warhead that can be used on open battlefields and in urban areas. Its guidance system enables the rocket to avoid causing collateral damage, and enables GMLRS crews to fire fewer rockets.

The unitary-warhead GMLRS rocket has a multi-mode fuse for point detonation, delay detonation, and proximity detonation to attacking soft targets, lightly fortified bunkers, and enemy personnel in the open.

On this order, Lockheed Martin will do the work at locations to be determined with each order, and should be finished by October 2027. For more information contact Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control online at https://www.lockheedmartin.com/en-us/products/guided-mlrs-unitary-rocket.html, or the Army Contracting Command-Redstone at https://acc.army.mil/contractingcenters/acc-rsa/.