Lockheed Martin has received a $55 million Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System (GMLRS) rocket contract from the United Kingdom. This contract represents the first international sale of GMLRS.

The initial contract calls for the production of GMLRS rockets with the Dual Purpose Improved Conventional Munitions (DPICM) warhead, with an option to migrate to other GMLRS variants in the future. It was procured under a Foreign Military Sales agreement with the U.S. Army. Delivery of the rockets is expected to be completed by March 2007.

"MLRS continues to evolve with new capabilities and munitions that are increasingly important and relevant in today's world," said John Ward, Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control's vice president - International Business Development. "Lockheed Martin is dedicated to providing warfighters around the world with technologically advanced equipment necessary to complete their missions, and we're very pleased to have our U.K. partners now fielding GMLRS rockets."

GMLRS is an all-weather, precision-guided rocket that provides increased accuracy, minimizing collateral damage and reducing by 80 percent the number of rockets necessary to defeat current targets. The GMLRS rocket provides increased precision and maneuverability, and can be fired from the M270A1 and the HIMARS launchers.

GMLRS is a Future Force system with a range of more than 70 kilometers. The system incorporates a GPS-aided inertial guidance package integrated on a product-improved rocket body. Small canards on the guided rocket nose provide basic maneuverability and enhance the accuracy of the system. The GMLRS rocket program is an international cooperative program between the U.S., U.K., Italy, France and Germany.

Lockheed Martin has received three contracts, totaling more than $290 million, to produce more than 2,000 GMLRS rockets in the Low-Rate Initial Production (LRIP) program through the year 2006. GMLRS production is expected to extend well beyond the year 2020.

The GMLRS program successfully completed operational testing in December 2004. More than 24 GMLRS rockets were fired from a MLRS M270A1 and HIMARS launchers over a two-month time period. The first HIMARS production units will officially be delivered to the Army at the end of May 2005.

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