U.S. Army Picks 5 to Prototype Long-range Maritime Strike Missile
Five companies were selected to deliver prototypes of a missile capable of hitting moving, long-range maritime targets to the U.S. Army, the ground service announced Tuesday.
Anduril, Castelion, Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control, Mach Industries and RTX were awarded through five Other Transaction Authority agreements to develop and deliver their pitches for the ground service’s Precision Strike Missile Increment 4 program. The defense contractors are expected to deliver prototypes within Fiscal Year 2027 and receive follow-on contracts depending on their performance by FY28.
Increment 4 prototypes “must be operable in the Indo-Pacific Area of Operations,” according to a request for solutions document covering the PrSM variant released in May. PrSM Inc 4’s planned range also enables the Army’s new HIMARS-equipped Indo-Pacific multi-domain commands to disperse along island chains to hold vessels under threat.
Lockheed Martin has already been contracted for the first two increments of the missile program. Increment 1 is the base variant succeeding the ground branch’s Cold War-era Army Tactical Missile System. Between FY25 and FY32, the Army wants to receive 1,000 PrSM Inc 1s annually. To bring ground-based anti-ship missile capabilities to the service’s M142 High Mobility Rocket Artillery Systems, PrSM Inc 2 utilizes the same missile but integrates a seeker capable of tracking mobile maritime and ground targets.
Last month, Lockheed Martin was awarded $1.2 billion to deliver the first Inc 2 missiles to the service.
Castelion was contracted last year to fit its Blackheard hypersonic missile on HIMARS. The missile start-up is currently on contract with the Navy to integrate its low-cost hypersonics on F/A-18E/F carrier-based fighters. A containerized system carrying Blackbeard will be demonstrated aboard Saronic’s Marauder Medium Unmanned Surface Vessel by 2027, according to a joint release with the drone shipbuilder.
Compared to Inc 2, PrSM Inc 4 is an extended-range variant meant to be fielded in the Indo-Pacific to counter China’s expansive naval forces. To counter Chinese naval movements and amphibious assaults during a potential conflict, the Army has turned to the development of missiles designed to strike warships that can be fielded on the HIMARS.
These launchers can be deployed to the difficult terrain found across the First Island Chain, particularly those within the strategic straits separating Japan, Taiwan and the Philippines. In recent years, the U.S. Army, Marine Corps and Air Force have jointly trained to sail and fly in HIMARS to remote islands across the Indo-Pacific. Balikatan 2026 saw at least four deployments of the mobile American missile launchers within and near the Luzon Strait.
