Lockheed Martin receives $512 million contract
Work on the contract will be performed at the company’s facilities in Camden, AR, and Grand Prairie, TX, and is scheduled for completion in 4th quarter 2010. Specific quantities of vehicles and rockets were not disclosed.
"The HIMARS system brings much more mobile and lethal dimension to Soldiers and Marines," said Lt. Col. John Chicoli, U.S. Army Precision Guided Munitions and Rockets Product Manager. "HIMARS’ exceptional mobility and transportability, together with the newest evolution of the MLRS family of munitions, bring long-range, precision fires, all-weather, near-vertical impact to theater – greatly reducing collateral damage."
HIMARS can accommodate the entire family of MLRS munitions, including all variants of the Guided MLRS rocket and Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) missiles. Designed to enable troops to engage and defeat artillery, air defense concentrations, trucks, light armor and personnel carriers, as well as support troop and supply concentrations, HIMARS can move away from the area at high speed following missile launch, well before enemy forces are able to locate the launch site.
Because of its C-130 transportability, HIMARS can be deployed into areas previously inaccessible to heavier launchers and provides a force multiplier to the modular brigade. It also incorporates the self-loading, autonomous features that have made MLRS the premier rocket artillery system in the world.
