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Lockheed Martin Conducts Successful HIMARS Flight Test Series

DALLAS, TX, January 7th, 2002 -- Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control conducted three days of successful flight tests of its High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) as part of the Maturation Test Program. A total of 12 Multiple Launch Rocket System (MLRS) M28 Practice Rockets were fired successfully from HIMARS at a range of 34 km. Testing took place at White Sands Missile Range, N.M. The tests gathered data for the hydraulic control system for adjustment of time between rounds, and for ballistic algorithm development. Forward Looking Infrared Radar (FLIR) data confirmed warhead events in the planned target area.

The series of HIMARS flight tests will continue into 2002 with additional missions consisting of single and multiple rocket missile firings at ambient and extreme temperatures.

The HIMARS program entered the maturation or engineering and manufacturing (EMD) phase in December 1999. In this phase of the program, six HIMARS launchers will be built for the U.S. Army and two for the U.S. Marine Corps. These launchers will be used for engineering and development testing. The Precision Fires Rocket And Missile Systems Project Office at Redstone Arsenal, Ala manages the HIMARS program.

HIMARS is a C-130 transportable, wheeled, indirect fire, rocket/missile system capable of firing all rockets and missiles in the current and future Multiple Launch Rocket System Family of Munitions (MFOM). HIMARS provides 24 hour ground-based, responsive General Support/General Support Reinforcing/Reinforcing (GS/GSR/R) indirect fires, which accurately engage targets at long range with high volumes of lethal fire. The system will extend the range of support provided to warfighting forces from 30 km to 60 km.

The HIMARS fire control system, electronics and communications units are interchangeable with the MLRS M270A1 launcher, and the crew and training are the same. Because of its size, HIMARS can be deployed into areas previously inaccessible to the larger aircraft required to transport the standard MLRS launcher. It also retains the self-loading, autonomous features that have made MLRS the premier rocket artillery system in the world.

Employing more than 8,500 people, Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control is headquartered in Dallas, Texas, with additional base operations in Orlando, Fla., and manufacturing and assembly facilities in Sunnyvale, Calif., Chelmsford, Mass., Camden, Ark., Horizon City and Lufkin, Texas, Ocala, Fla., White Sands Missile Range, N.M., and Troy, Ala. The company is a business unit of Lockheed Martin Systems Integration in Bethesda, Md.

Craig Vanbebber, 972-603-1615
e-mail craig.vanbebber@lmco.co