October 5, 2026
Five companies were selected to develop prototypes for the “PrSM Increment 4” program to enhance the US Army’s missile capabilities
The US Army has chosen five companies to develop prototypes within the “PrSM Increment 4” program, in a move that reignites the competition to develop a new generation of long-range missiles. The companies “Anduril,” “Castellion,” “Lockheed Martin,” “RTX,” and “Mach Industries” obtained “Other Transaction Authority” (OTA) agreements to develop these models, according to the “Breaking Defense” website, without disclosing the value of those agreements.
The program aims to develop a missile capable of striking moving sea and land targets at a distance of no less than 1,000 kilometers, which represents twice the range of the basic version currently used, provided that these missiles are launched from the “HIMARS M142” system.
According to the request for proposals issued by the US acquisition office “PAE Fires” last April, the new system is required to have an open systems architecture that allows operators to integrate new hardware and software, while being able to operate efficiently in the Indo-Pacific region in accordance with the specific operating scenario.
The five companies are scheduled to enter into a pilot competition during the fiscal year 2027, followed by evaluation and selection by the US Army, with the final pilot competition taking place in the fiscal year 2028, while the final selection for the program is targeted for the fiscal year 2030.
This announcement comes after the US Army reopened competition for the fourth phase of the “PrSM” program, after it had awarded contracts in 2023 to both “Lockheed Martin” and the “RTX-Northrop Grumman” team. Last June, Lockheed Martin demonstrated its model of the fourth stage following a successful experiment at an L3Harris propulsion facility, during which the missile demonstrated a smooth transition from the booster stage to the jet engine as a pivotal achievement.
This came two weeks after the US Army awarded Lockheed Martin a contract worth $1.2 billion to develop the “PrSM Increment 2” system, which provides an initial operational capability and includes a multi-mode seeker to direct the missile towards moving naval targets with a range of up to about 500 kilometers.
It is noteworthy that the US Army used the “PrSM Increment 1” capabilities for the first time in combat last March during the war with Iran. Since then, reports have indicated that the United States has used almost its entire stock of PrSM systems, making the new competition to develop the fourth version with longer range and expanded capabilities crucial.
