Lockheed Martin delivered equipment for the first Long-Range Hypersonic Weapon (LTHW) battery, referred to as Dark Eagle, to US soldiers in 2021. The system has been designed to deliver additional capability for the nation’s ground-based hypersonic weapon system.
Lockheed Martin will provide additional LRHW battery equipment, systems and software engineering support, and logistics solutions to the US Army under a US$756 million contract.
The LRHW weapon system has been designed to launch the common hypersonic All Up Round (AUR) – provided by the US Navy-managed Conventional Prompt Strike (CPS) programme – and will include the army canister, a battery operations centre and transporter erector launchers.
Fiscal 2023 missile procurement, army funds in the amount of $275.3 million were obligated at the time of the award.
In September 2019, the US Army awarded contracts for system supply related to the development of a land-based hypersonic weapon capability. Dynetics Technical Solutions (DTS) was awarded $351.6 million to produce Common-Hypersonic Glide Body (C-HGB) prototypes, while Lockheed Martin was awarded $347 million to lead the LRHW systems integration project.