Record GMLRS rocket motor order goes to L3Harris

L3Harris Technologies has won a $250 million contract from Lockheed Martin to build solid rocket motors for standard-range Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System rockets, the largest quantity ordered in the program’s history, the company said Oct. 12.

The motors will be built at L3Harris’ new 60,000-square-foot (5,600-square-meter) plant in Camden, Arkansas, which the company says will open later this year and use automation and robotics across each stage of solid rocket motor production. L3Harris did not disclose how many motors the contract covers, the delivery schedule, or which customers will receive the finished rockets.

GMLRS is the guided rocket fired by the U.S. Army’s HIMARS and M270 launchers and by allied armies, including Ukraine’s. Each standard-range rocket can hit targets out to about 70 km (43 miles). Lockheed Martin is the prime contractor and assembles the rockets, also in Camden, while L3Harris supplies the motor that propels them, along with the electronic safe-and-arm device that keeps the warhead from detonating early and the proximity sensor that sets it off near the target.

“Securing this follow-on award at the highest quantity in program history demonstrates confidence in L3Harris’ missile propulsion expertise and our ability to deliver at scale,” said Scott Alexander, president of Propulsion Systems at L3Harris Missile Solutions. “With our investments to expand capacity ahead of need, we’re well-positioned to meet this surge while maintaining the quality our customers expect.”

L3Harris says it has doubled its GMLRS motor output in recent years through new manufacturing techniques. The company became a major solid rocket motor supplier when it bought Aerojet Rocketdyne in 2023, and the motor has long been one of the limits on how fast GMLRS rockets can be built. Demand has risen sharply since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, where HIMARS and GMLRS have been in heavy use, and as more countries buy HIMARS. Australia began building its own GMLRS rockets this year and test-fired the first Australian-made round from a HIMARS in April.

L3Harris named the Camden plant an “Arsenal of Freedom” facility, after the Department of War initiative to expand weapons production.