Lockheed Martin, Raytheon-Northrop Teams to Develop Long Range Maneuverable Fires Missile

The U.S. Army’s Aviation and Missile Center has selected Lockheed Martin and Raytheon-Northrop Grumman teams to develop an advanced propulsion Long Range Maneuverable Fires (LRMF) missile.

Lockheed Martin and Raytheon were the initial competitors, developing the Precision Strike Missile (PrSM) to replace the Army’s Tactical Missile System.

The missile can be fired from existing Army launchers to defeat distant threats at ranges that significantly exceed those of the PrSM baseline.

Phase 1 focuses on design and risk-reduction activities, with optional follow-on phases leading to flight test demonstration.

The Army awarded Raytheon $97.7 million in February to advance its design for the LRMF program, planned to become the PrSM Increment 4 effort. This step focuses on dramatically extending the range of PrSM, possibly from its current planned 499km to more than double that distance.

During this phase of the program, Raytheon and Northrop Grumman said they will co-design, build and test the propulsion subsystem for DeepStrike-ER, an advanced missile solution that will demonstrate the capability to achieve the Army’s desired range and effectiveness against next-generation threats.

Raytheon was developing a PrSM missile in an Army-led competitive technology maturation and risk reduction phase, but struggled to get the weapon ready for flight tests. They mutually decided to end the effort two years ago.

Lockheed had already participated in two successful test flights by that time. The firm is now preparing to field the first increment of the missile to the Army this year.

The Army plans to field PrSM in capability increments, with the second focused on adding a ship-killing capability through an enhanced seeker, with fielding planned for fiscal 2026. The Army has not disclosed a plan and path for the third increment.