On Sep 10, the U.S. Army Contracting Command posted a notice on the U.S. government’s main contracting website, asking for information from contractors about their ability to produce Long Range Precision Munition (LRPM) for integration on currently fielded and future Army Rotary Wing (RW) and Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS).
Potential weapons systems must be precision capable and demonstrated as a complete system in a relevant environment; responses will also serve to inform Air Launched Effects (ALE) lethal requirements, according to a recent service notice.
According to the U.S. Army Contracting Command, the new weapon system should be effective against various target types to include: integrated air defense systems; lightly armored systems command and control nodes; personnel.
It is also noted that Long Range Precision Munition range should be greater than 30 km (time of flight at 30 km is less than or equal to 100 secs) and added that range greater than 40km is an objective capability.
Additionally, the newest weapons system should be able to engage stationary and moving targets in day and night conditions in adverse weather and global positioning system (GPS) denied environments with low collateral damage.
Earlier this week, the U.S. Army leaders released additional details about the current aviation fleet and noting that modernizing and maintaining current helicopters is vitally important.
Maj. Gen. David Francis, U.S. Army Aviation Center of Excellence and Fort Rucker commanding general, outlined aircraft modernization priorities at the Association of the U.S. Army’s “Hot Topic” forum on Army aviation.
The Army is “not just concerned about (FVL), we’re concerned about the entire aviation force,” Francis said. “When I talk about the aviation force that is going to fight and win in future environments, I’m talking about the UH-60 (Black Hawk), the CH-47 (Chinook), and the Apaches we have today.”