The U.S. Army plans to conduct four long-range exercises of the Lockheed Martin-built precision strike missile this year in a push to develop the weapon’s firing capacity, Breaking Defense reported Friday.
Brig. Gen. John Rafferty, director of the Army Future Command's (AFC) long-range precision fires cross-functional team, told the publication in an interview that the service will conduct a 400-km PrSM test at White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico next month.
In addition, there will be another test in August at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California that will cover a range of over 500 kilometers or 310.7 miles. Two PrSMs will also launch from a HIMARS vehicle during the 2021 Project Convergence exercises in the fall.
The Army’s goal is to expand the PrSM’s capacity to mid-range or approximately 1,100 miles, according to Rafferty. He noted that the service branch is looking into using next-generation propulsion systems to obtain a mid-range PrSM capability.
In March 2020, Lockheed was named as the final participant in the Army’s PrSM prototyping initiative. PrSM is slated for deployment in 2023.