ER GMLRS reaches 80 km distance, experiences warhead ‘anomaly'

Lockheed Martin is working to determine what caused an Extended Range Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System (ER GMLRS) warhead to prematurely explode during an engineering development flight test on 4 March, the company told Janes.

During the recent test shot for the US Army at White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico, a High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) fired one weapon. The primary objective was, in part, to fly the round 80 km to validate flight trajectory performance, range, and interfaces with the HIMARS launcher and system software performance. This goal was achieved, but the secondary objective, to hit the target, did not go as planned.

“They used a height-of-burst, or the alternative warhead, and it … just went off prematurely over the impact area; It went the full length of the range,” said Karl Stoetzer, from the business development department at Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control, during a 9 March interview.

There is an ongoing investigation to determine what caused the problem and the company said it will make changes to the ER GMLRS before the third and fourth engineering development flight tests occur in the April to May timeframe, according to Becky Withrow, a business development manager at Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control. During these two upcoming tests, the company will test the changes and push the ER GMLRS range out towards 150 km.

In early March, Lockheed Martin tested its ER GMLRS during an 80 km shot and discovered a warhead anomaly. It plans to fix the problem before two upcoming tests in the second quarter of the year. (Lockheed Martin )