According to the news of Defense News, based on an anonymous source, the US Army will launch a shot for Long Range Precision Munitions studies in mid-November, after Lockheed Martin announces the results of the demonstration.

Giving a start to the effort to design and develop an LRPM for the AH-64E Apache attack helicopter and future attack reconnaissance aircraft in fiscal 2022, the Army subsequently fired a shot at the Dugway Proving Ground in Utah. After reviewing the FY22 budget documents, the Army decided to select industry-sourced designs to implement an approximately five-year development program in FY23.

On the other hand, the Army, which announced earlier this year that it plans to have three suppliers participate in the autumn election, did not reveal the contractors participating in the assessment. However, Lockheed Martin said in an 31^st October interview with Defense News that the latest variant of the Spike NLOS missile has completed its demonstration at Dugway.

According to Tom Bargnesi, Senior Program Manager for Precision Firing at Lockheed Martin, the company fired four missiles in three test scenarios and made “four out of four” successful test firings. Noting that the shootings took place for Lockheed Martin the week of 17^th October, Bargnesi said, “We showed all the targets of the government.” Bargnesi continued: “We have demonstrated integration with the Modular Effects Launcher that we can successfully communicate and launch with this equipment. We also showed the range they asked us to show, and we demonstrated our technologies in a GPS-free environment.”

Firing will be completed in mid-November, according to a spokesperson for the Army’s Missile and Space Program Executive Office and the Future Vertical Lift Cross-Functional Team. For the military’s future aircraft, long-range munitions will be critical to hitting an enemy’s defensive positions from a comfortable distance or from outside enemy detection range. The spokesperson said that the data obtained from the shootings so far was “extremely useful”.

Also stating that the Army plans to complete the capability development document by spring, the spokesperson added, “The information collected to date has proven that existing technology and capabilities have reached the desired extended range and integration into the Modular Impact Launcher.”

According to the budget documents, the development phase of the ammunition will continue until the third quarter of the 2028 fiscal year. The military does not reveal the timetable beyond the development stage in documents reviewed by Defense News. Meanwhile, the Army is fielding Rafael’s Spike No Line of Sight missile, a temporary solution that will add long-range lethality to the existing fleet.