Lockheed Martin yesterday delivered critical ground equipment to the U.S. Army for its Long Range Hypersonic Weapon (LRHW) system – part of a rapid, multi-year hypersonic weapons development program supporting the service’s focus on long-range precision fires.
In a ceremony held at Joint Base Lewis-McChord today, the U.S. Army and industry team celebrated this delivery of ground equipment, including the battery operations center and four transporter erector launchers.
The overall system is being developed in partnership with the U.S. Army’s Rapid Capabilities and Critical Technologies Office and its Hypersonic Project Office. Led by Lockheed Martin, other industry teammates include Dynetics, General Atomics, General Dynamics, i3, Moog, Northrop Grumman, Penta Research, Raytheon and Verity Integrated Systems.
The Lockheed Martin LRHW contract was originally awarded in 2019. Future flight tests are slated for fiscal year 2022-2023, and the program remains on track.
Earlier this week, Lockheed Martin opened an intelligent, advanced hypersonic production facility at its Courtland, Alabama location.
Designed and constructed with the latest digital tools, factory work there will focus on producing much of the company’s hypersonics portfolio, including LRHW.
Hypersonic weapons are a key aspect of the long-range precision fire modernization effort for the Army and the national security strategy to compete with and outpace potential adversaries.
