Army GMLRS Rocket Gets New Warhead

by Kris Osborn

The Army plans to fire an upgraded, all-weather, precision-guided, ground-fired rocket which will pinpoint enemy targets at distances up to 70 or more kilometers – while removing the prospect of leaving dangerous unexploded ordnance behind, service and industry officials said.

The weapon, called Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System, is being modified to adhere to the parameters of a 2008 international agreement banning the production and use of so-called “cluster munitions” which disperse a number of small explosive “bomblets” over a target area.

As a result, Lockheed and the Army are now producing a new “Alternative Warhead” for the GMLRS which complies with this international cluster munition agreement.

The first GMLRS Alternative Warhead rocket has rolled off the production line at Lockheed Martin’s Camden, Arkansas, manufacturing facility, a Lockheed statement said.

Cluster weapons, now banned by an international agreement called the Convention on Cluster Munitions, can leave dangerous explosive materials in an area long after an attack has taken place. Naturally, this poses risks to civilians who may wind up in the general proximity of areas previously attacked by the rocket.

Primarily designed for fixed targets, GMLRS can be used to destroy enemy bunkers, troop locations, armored vehicles, equipment or other pertinent high-value targets; during the war in Afghanistan, GMLRS was successfully used to destroy senior members of the Taliban, sources have said.

It is certainly possible, if not likely, that GMLRS is now being fired against ISIS in Iraq – however the Army quite naturally does not often wish to discuss which weapons are being used on an enemy for operational security reasons.