FT. LAUDERDALE, Fla., March 7 (UPI) -- Lockheed Martin says it has designed a long-range missile that will be an effective counterpunch against mobile rocket launchers and artillery.
The P44 is Lockheed's answer to moving targets including artillery and vehicle-mounted rocket launchers that can carry out hit-and-run strikes and vanish before a response can be launched.
The 7-inch, 220-pound missile has a range up to 70 kilometers (43 miles) and can be fired by the truck-mounted HIMARS launchers currently in use by U.S. Army.
"This gap against fleeting targets is difficult to fill using projected munitions. However, merging a fast boost-sustain motor, an adverse weather terminal seeker and HIMARS, will offer the Army a badly needed solution," said Glenn Kuller of Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control in Florida. "With P44, aggressors cannot hide behind the weather, nor can they escape."
Lockheed said that despite its size, the diminutive missile carried a full array of technology, including Doppler radar, GPS inertial guidance and semi-active laser targeting. It has no minimum range requirements, and the warhead can be either a 17-pound shape charge or 28-pound Hellfire II MAC (metal augmented charge).
The P44 underwent testing last month at White Sands Missile Range from a HIMARS launcher and will undergo additional evaluation of its motor, airframe and aeroballistics.
