Lockheed Martin tests new Kodiak containerized launcher

Lockheed Martin completed the first live-fire test from its newest containerized launcher, Kodiak, firing a Reduced-Range Practice Rocket to demonstrate offensive fires from the system.

The company said the test loaded and fired a rocket from Kodiak, with all planned mission requirements completed on the first attempt. The Reduced-Range Practice Rocket is a training round used by HIMARS and M270A2 Multiple Launch Rocket System crews to practice live-fire operations with GMLRS and other munitions in the MLRS Family of Munitions.

Kodiak follows GRIZZLY, a separate containerized launcher Lockheed Martin built for defensive fires. GRIZZLY completed its first integrated live-fire test in March 2026, firing a Hellfire missile from a 10-foot Tricon shipping container in vertical and angled launch configurations. Lockheed Martin developed GRIZZLY in about six months through internal company investment, using existing weapon and launcher architecture including the fielded M299 launcher system. The launcher uses commercial off-the-shelf materials to reduce logistics demands and acquisition costs, and Lockheed Martin has said it is designed to work with different command, control and sensor systems rather than a single dedicated network.

GRIZZLY later intercepted a Group 3 one-way attack drone using a Joint Air-to-Ground Missile in June 2026, the company’s first such test. Group 3 drones fall in the military’s mid-size unmanned aircraft category, generally weighing between 55 and 1,320 pounds (25 to 600 kilograms). Lockheed Martin described that test as validating a modular, low-cost point-defense option deployable on land or maritime platforms within days, distinct from the offensive-fires role Kodiak is being developed to fill.

Lockheed Martin said Kodiak can deploy from air, land or sea platforms. Each container holds up to 12 GMLRS rockets. GMLRS is a Lockheed Martin-made guided rocket designed to hit targets at extended range with precision, and it is already fielded on HIMARS and M270A2 launchers used by the U.S. Army and Marine Corps as well as multiple allied militaries.

The company said containerizing both offensive and defensive fires gives the Department of War options for deploying weapons that are cheaper to field and harder to detect than traditional launch systems. Containerized launchers built inside standard shipping containers are also easier to move by truck, rail or ship without specialized transport equipment, and they can be positioned to resemble ordinary cargo rather than a fixed military installation.