Army awards $353 million to Lockheed for rocket system known as '70-kilometer sniper rifle'

The Army has awarded a $353 million contract to Lockheed Martin for the seventh production lot of Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System Unitary rockets, one of which is seen here during a test at White Sands Missile Riange in New Mexico. The system is sometimes called the "Army's 70-kilometer sniper rifle." (Lockheed Martin photo)

HUNTSVILLE, Alabama -- The Army has awarded a $353.2 million contract for the seventh production lot of Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System Unitary rockets to Lockheed Martin.

Soldiers sometimes call GMLRS "the Army's 70-kilometer sniper rifle," a Redstone Arsenal spokesman said today. And, in a Lockheed statement, Lt. Col. T.J. Wright seemed to agree.
"GMLRS continues to be the long-range precision-fire weapon of choice when commanders need to decisively and accurately attack high value targets while minimizing the risk of collateral damage," said Wright, Army product manager for Precision Guided Missiles and Rockets, in the Program Executive Office for Missiles and Space on the arsenal.
U.S. and allied forces have fired more than 2,200 of the all-weather, rapidly-deployable GMLRS rockets in military operations, said Scott Arnold, vice president of precision fires in Lockheed Martin's Missiles and Fire Control business. The company said the rockets have achieved a combat-reliability rate of 98 percent and have established a reputation for affordability.
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