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.
Related Equipment in Defence Insight
More from Land Warfare
-
NATO and Europe step up UGV efforts
The effort to develop uncrewed ground vehicles (UGVs) is heating up with research efforts and exercises improving the speed of the process and the war in Ukraine is working as a proving ground for rapid development and fielding.
-
Ireland’s Reamda develops new version of Riddler UGV
The company's Riddler uncrewed ground vehicle (UGV) is designed to be small and light to allow easy deployment and the ability to access smaller areas such as bus or train aisles.
-
Spain to invest billions of dollars on howitzers and other vehicles as it looks to select new tanks
The Spanish Government has outlined plans to purchase communications and cybersecurity capabilities but most notably amphibious combat vehicles, self-propelled howitzers (SPHs), bridge-laying vehicles and an effort to replace its tanks from 2040.
-
What does Germany’s new tank joint venture mean for MGCS?
Germany is Europe’s leading country for tank manufacture and until this month was committed to the Franco-German Main Ground Combat System (MGCS) which included tanks and other vehicles. Earlier this month, Germany and other European countries set up the Main ARmoured Tank of Europe (MARTE) project casting a shadow over the MGCS.
-
CAVS rolls on as Denmark orders 129 vehicles
Denmark signed the Technical Arrangement for the multinational Common Armoured Vehicle System (CAVS) in April this year. The order means the country will receive its first vehicle this year.