Lockheed Martin has won the competition to produce the U.S. Army's Compact Kinetic Energy Missile (CKEM) program. CKEM is the next generation hypervelocity anti-tank weapon to support the service's Future Force.

Lockheed Martin is currently working under a $21.3 million, 36-month Advanced Technology Demonstration (ATD) program on CKEM, which was awarded in October 2003 by the U.S. Army Aviation Missile Research Development and Engineering Center in Huntsville, AL. The company will now proceed as the sole contractor on the ATD, with the remainder of the contract valued at $60 million.

Work on the ATD is being performed at the company's facilities in Dallas, TX, and Camden, AR. Once the ATD program is completed in 2006, the CKEM plan calls for a two-year System Design and Development (SDD) phase.

CKEM will provide the Future Force overwhelming lethality overmatch, high probability of first round kill and near fire-and-forget capability. The missile is 60 inches long and weighs less than 100 pounds, and has an extended range for direct fire, line-of-sight engagements.

"As a pioneer of hit-to-kill technology back in the 1960s, Lockheed Martin has a long history of producing kinetic energy systems that provide overwhelming lethality for our U.S. Army customers," said, Ron Abbott, vice president - Tactical Missiles for Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control. "Lockheed Martin's efforts on CKEM continue to leverage this expertise to ensure our customers have the best products that utilize proven, low-risk technologies. Ultimately, CKEM will provide soldiers with a distinct battlefield advantage."

Lockheed Martin demonstrated its CKEM in a test at White Sands Missile Range, NM, in October 2003. The test demonstrated multiple missile component capabilities in an operational environment, and all test objectives were achieved.

CKEM will defeat enemy armored vehicles, light armored vehicles, helicopters, bunkers, field fortifications and crew-served weapons. The system is being designed to transition from an initial deployment on a HUMVEE to Future Combat System (FCS) vehicles and beyond. Lockheed Martin has committed internal research and development dollars to evaluate other possible platforms for CKEM beyond the FCS vehicle family.

"Lockheed Martin is uniquely positioned to transition CKEM into an effective and highly lethal weapon system for the U.S. Army," Abbott added. "Once deployed, CKEM will be a significant force multiplier."

Major subcontractors to Lockheed Martin on the CKEM program include: Alliant Techsystems (ATK) - Dual Pulse Solid Rocket Motor; Honeywell - Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU); EaglePicher - Batteries; and Haigh-Farr - Antennas.

Headquartered in Bethesda, MD, Lockheed Martin employs about 130,000 people worldwide and is principally engaged in the research, design, development, manufacture and integration of advanced technology systems, products and services.

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SOURCE: Lockheed Martin