The US Army's Precision Strike Missile is meant to strike targets as far as 400 km away. (US Army)
The multimode seeker that makes the US Army's Precision Strike Missile Increment 2 (PrSM Inc 2) unique and more advanced than Inc 1 is holding the capability back from its scheduled procurement in fiscal year (FY) 2025, according to budget documents.
While Inc 1 is designed for land targets, it is the Land-Based Anti-Ship Missile multimode seeker that enables Inc 2 to perform maritime targeting for the army. The service is requesting funding for 230 PrSM Inc 1 missiles – an increase from 190 missiles the service planned to purchase for FY 2025 in the 2024 budget request – but Inc 2 procurement has been pushed back to FY 2026, Major General Joe Hilbert, director of force development and deputy chief of staff (G-8), told reporters on 12 March.
“The bottom line is that technology was not ready, not mature enough to go into procurement in [FY 20]25,” Maj Gen Hilbert said. The seeker needs more time to mature, but he declined to provide more engineering details.
While the schedule is pushed back, there is still about USD10 million requested in the base budget of FY 2025 for “long lead” items for the procurement of 10 Inc 2 missiles in 2026, according to budget materials released on 11 March. The army tested the new seeker in 2023, Army Development Command (DEVCOM) Aviation and Missile Center said in a press release in January 2024.
The missile “integrates a seeker to attack critical time-sensitive moving maritime or relocatable land targets”, according to budget documents.
For more information on PrSM, please seeUS Army investing in extended-range Precision Strike Missile.
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