Second test for modernised TACMS

Lockheed Martin’s modernised Tactical Missile System (TACMS) has undertaken a second test flight at White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico, the company announced on 12 December.

The test saw the modernised TACMS launched from a High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) launcher. The missile engaged and destroyed a target approximately 85km away. The testing demonstrated the missile's proximity sensor height of burst enhancement, which allows the system to deliver increased lethality against imprecisely located targets.

The missile is being modernised under the army’s TACMS Service Life Extension Program inventory refurbishment effort, with updated guidance electronics and added capability to defeat area targets without leaving behind unexploded ordnance. Lockheed Martin is carrying out the modernisation under a $74 million contract signed with the US Army in 2014.

The modernisation process disassembles and demilitarises previous-generation submunition warheads that do not comply with the international Convention on Cluster Munitions, replacing them with new unitary warheads; and resets the missile’s 10+ year shelf life.

Five more flight tests are planned in coming months for the modernised TACMS programme.