Raytheon, in co-operation with the US Army, has completed a system level preliminary design review (PDR) of its DeepStrike hypersonic surface-to-surface missile.
Concluded in December 2018, but announced in late March 2019, the completion of the PDR paves the way for component-level test and integration activities, followed by initial flight testing of the DeepStrike missile later this year.
DeepStrike is the Raytheon solution for the army’s Precision Strike Missile (PrSM) requirement: an all weather, precision-strike guided missile intended to replace the legacy non-Insensitive Munitions and Cluster Munition policy compliant Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS) currently in the US Army inventory.
The US Army’s PrSM requirement, formerly designated ‘Long-Range Precision Fires’ (LRPF), is being competed by Raytheon and Lockheed Martin. In June 2017, the army awarded Raytheon a USD116.4 million LRFP Phase 2 contract, which includes technology maturation and risk reduction (TMRR) for the development of a prototype missile system. Lockheed Martin was awarded a parallel USD73.8 million TMRR contract in July 2017.
The LRPF designation now refers to one of six ‘cross-functional teams’ (CFTs) that focus on specific developments prioritised by the US Army’s Futures Command. These include PrSM, an Extended Range Cannon Artillery (ERCA) for howitzers, and a strategic-range strike system that could use hypersonics or hypervelocity weapons.
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