The U.S. Army has taken delivery of the first Precision Strike Missiles that will begin replacing the Army Tactical Missile System. The delivery marks a major milestone for the PrSM program, which was one of 24 major modernization programs the Army was trying to get into the hands of soldiers by the end of 2023. The missile, which can launch from both the M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System and the M270A2 Multiple Launch Rocket System, will be critical to the service as it seeks a deep-strike capability that can counter Russian and Chinese technologies.
PrSM has been a top program for the Army and a key technology within the service’s long-range precision fires portfolio, which was created as part of the service’s new wave of modernization priorities in 2017. The Army and RTX mutually decided to end the effort in March 2020, and Lockheed continued alone in development and flight testing for the first increment. The Army conducted a long-range flight test of PrSM in October 2021, believed to have exceeded the current range requirement of 499 kilometers.