U.S. Army Contracts First Batch of Maritime Precision Strike Missiles

The U.S. Army successfully conducted a production qualification test of the Precision Strike Missile on April 10, 2025. PAE FIRES photo The U.S. Army contracted the first batch of Precision Strike Missiles designed to strike moving maritime targets last week.

Lockheed Martin was awarded $1.2 billion by the ground branch for work on the early operational capability munitions of PrSM Increment 2, a variant that integrates a new seeker capable of mobile targets, the Pentagon announced on Sept. 14. Work is expected to be completed by September of 2031, reads the Pentagon’s contracts page.

The procurement of the maritime strike PrSM variant was slated to begin within Fiscal Year 2026, according to the Army’s Justification Book covering missile procurement.

PrSM Inc. 2 will enable the Army’s M142 High Mobility Rocket Artillery System and M270 Multiple Launch Rocket System formations to strike enemy vessels up to 248 miles away, according to budgetary documents.

Procured as a replacement of the Cold War-era Army Tactical Missile System, PrSM was built to support increased magazine depth on the service’s launchers and perform more missions. Two PrSMs can occupy the same space as a single ATACMS within a missile pod. The future Increment 4 variant plans to field a maritime strike capability at a range of 621 miles.

In June, the service announced a $4.9 billion PrSM Inc 1 contract would be expanded to $13.3 billion. According to a justification document from March, the increased funding covers work for the missiles between FY25 and FY32. Within this eight-year-long production run, the Army expects an annual delivery rate of 1,000 PrSM Inc 1s. The justification document also reads that “the U.S. Marine Corps may provide appropriated funds for missile procurement.”

According to U.S. Central Command, the PrSM was fielded in the opening salvos of war with Iran, which began on Feb. 28. Last month, Reuters reported that Washington expended “virtually all” of its PrSM and ATACM missiles in the ongoing conflict.

This award is the latest move from the Army to develop its ground-based anti-shipping capabilities amid a shift to develop forces and formations geared against China in the Indo-Pacific. In recent years, units from U.S. Army Pacific have practiced inserting HIMARS at remote locations across the First Island Chain via transport aircraft and landing craft. These deployments cover chokepoints between the Philippines, Taiwan and Japan, areas that can prove critical in a potential conflict with China.

The Army began testing forward-deployed maritime strike missiles in the Indo-Pacific in 2024 through the deployment of the Mid-Range Capability to the Philippines. With SM-6 and Maritime Strike Tomahawks, these containerized four-celled Mark 41. vertical launching systems can strike warships from 279 to 1,000 miles away.