Washington: With questions about stockpiles swirling, the US Army is issuing a call to ramp up production of ground-launched rockets. The service sent out a request this week for manufacturing 133,014 Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System, or GMLRS, rockets by 2034, according to the Army’s Sources Sought notice.
Contractors have until September 1 to submit white papers on plans to meet that quota. The timeline calls for churning out 19,002 rockets per year from 2028 to 2034, with the first actual deliveries starting in February 2030.
“The scope of the contract includes production, tooling, engineering change proposals, and supporting activities of GMLRS rockets including unitary, alternative warhead (AW), and extended range (ER) rockets,” the notice said.
Current GMLRS manufacturer Lockheed Martin already announced last year that it is ramping up production capacity to 14,000 rockets annually. The Army’s new plan would require a nearly 36% increase in capacity on top of that.
“Submissions must outline the most efficient and cost-effective methods for achieving this production rate,” the Army noted. Army efforts to ramp up US munitions production have stumbled, including a facility to manufacture components for 155mm shells that failed to produce any parts.
GMLRS rockets are launched from the M270 Multiple Launch Rocket System armoured vehicle. The munitions can also be fired from the smaller truck-mounted M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, or HIMARS. The base version of GMLRS has a range of 70 kilometres, while the extended-range version can reach up to 150 kilometres.
Lockheed Martin had delivered 75,000 GMLRS rockets to the US Army by 2024. But that still hasn’t satisfied demand for the munitions.
Originally designed as Cold War weapons to unleash massive firepower against a hypothetical Soviet attack on Europe, US multiple rocket launchers became some of the stars of the war in Ukraine.
The M270, HIMARS and their GMLRS rockets have proved instrumental in enabling Ukrainian resistance to the Russian invasion. GMLRS rockets devastated targets such as command posts, supply depots and troop formations. Ukraine even used HIMARS to hit a power plant inside Russia last September. However, heavy Russian jamming of the GPS guidance system in the rockets eventually compromised some effectiveness.
Between deliveries to Ukraine and a protracted conflict with Iran, US stockpiles of GMLRS and other guided munitions have been depleted. Replenishment, meanwhile, has been complicated by a shortage of rocket motors.
