Lockheed Martin received a $445 million follow-on contract for Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System (MLRS) Unitary rockets from the U.S. Army Aviation & Missile Command.

This is the U.S. Army’s 6th purchase of the precision munition, with almost 2,000 GMLRS rockets fired in support of U.S. and allied military operations to date.

The contract includes 735 GMLRS Unitary rocket pods (six rockets per pod) and 508 Reduced-Range Practice Rocket pods for the U.S. Army and U.S. Marine Corps, as well as GMLRS pods for Foreign Military Sales (FMS) customers including Japan, Jordan, Singapore and the United Arab Emirates. Specific numbers of rocket pods for the FMS customers were not disclosed. Work on the contract will be performed at the company’s facilities in Camden, Arkansas, and Dallas, Texas. Deliveries are scheduled to begin in December 2012.

“Our enemies fear the precision that GMLRS delivers,” said Lt. Col. Drew Clanton, the GMLRS Product Manager at the U.S. Army’s Precision Fires, Rockets and Missiles program management office in Huntsville, Alabama. “U.S. forces can increase their standoff distances without losing accuracy, which is paramount to our efforts to destroy threats while limiting collateral damage.”

GMLRS provides dependable precision strike, a capability demonstrated currently in Afghanistan, and continues to exceed operational-readiness requirements.

“GMLRS continues to be one of the most powerful and precise assets for artillery today,” said Scott Arnold, Vice President for Precision Fires at Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control. “Its heavy use in combat shows our customers trust GMLRS because it’s reliable and delivers incredible precision, enabling faster and more effective missions.”

The GMLRS Unitary rocket is successfully meeting the needs of the U.S. Army, U.S. Marine Corps and British Army artillery units in theater. The program also is looking ahead to meet evolving customer requirements by testing new technology in their IRAD-funded GMLRS+ program, which will integrate advanced capabilities that will keep GMLRS the world’s premier long-range precision artillery rocket.

Designed specifically for destroying high-priority targets at ranges up to 70 kilometers, GMLRS has been employed in both urban and non-urban environments. It is an all-weather, rapidly deployable, long-range rocket that delivers precision strike beyond the range of most conventional weapons. Each GMLRS missile is packaged in a MLRS launch pod and is fired from the MLRS Family of Launchers.