The Army’s PrSM weapon is seen during a test launch. (Lockheed Martin)

WASHINGTON — The US Army is developing a fifth Precision Strike Missile (PrSM) that it could potentially launch from an autonomous launcher to hit targets beyond 1,000 km, according to two service leaders.

At an Association of the US Army event today, the commanding general for the service’s Fires Center of Excellence Maj. Gen. Winston Brook showed a slide with a PrSM Increment 5 weapon listed as a future capability.

The director of the Long-Range Precision Fires Cross Functional Team, Brig. Gen. Rory Crooks, separately explained that work on a fifth increment is in fact underway but is currently relegated to the science and technology arena. The idea, he explained, is to design a missile that can be fired from an autonomous vehicle.

“If you’re familiar with an [M270 Multiple Launch Rocket System] MLRS pod, it’s about 13-feet long,” the one-star general told the audience. “If you have something without a cab, that’s autonomous, you might be able to employ something longer than that.”

“We’re in the science and technology phase of something that we’ll maybe, eventually call Increment 5,” Crooks added. “You might be able to employ something that’s actually longer … and you might be able to achieve ranges that, right now, don’t seem realistic.” 

While there are science and technology funds to examine this potential new weapon, Crooks said there is not yet a timeline to compete and formally develop it.

Over the past several years, the Army has been developing four other PrSM rounds, broadly designed to replace the MGM-140 Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS), and be launched from both the M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) and the M270A2 MLRS.

The service is currently in the process of fielding initial Increment 1 rounds from Lockheed Martin billed as a way to strike targets at least 500 km away.

Future versions of the weapon also include an Increment 2 with a multimode seeker, known as the Land-Based Anti-Ship Missile (LBASM) seeker, and a PrSM Inc 3 which would seek to add in enhanced lethality payloads.

The Army has also tapped a Lockheed Martin team and a Raytheon Technologies-Northrop Grumman team to work on competing PrSM Inc 4 designs that can fly more than 1,000 km, possibly double the range of the current version.