Lockheed Martin's Long Range Land Attack Projectile (LRLAP) recently completed four engineering verification flight tests, as part of the U.S. Navy's System Design and Development program.

During the tests conducted at White Sands Missile Range, N.M., four projectiles were fired at various hard and soft targets located 45 nautical miles downrange. All four targets were destroyed. The tests allowed engineers to collect lethality data and assess warhead performance, and provided the U.S. Navy the opportunity to develop new employment scenarios.

LRLAP is a 155-mm projectile fired from the Advanced Gun System for the U.S. Navy's next-generation DDG 1000 destroyer. It provides precision fire support from a safe standoff distance to U.S. Marine Corps, Army and Joint/Coalition forces engaged in expeditionary assaults or urban operations in coastal cities, with minimal collateral damage.

"These tests bring us closer to completing the 35 tests required by the U.S. Navy to demonstrate the maturity and performance of the system," said Richard Benton, LRLAP program manager at Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control. "LRLAP will greatly enhance the capability of the Navy to respond to fire support requests by deployed troops ashore."

LRLAP provides three times the lethality of traditional 5-inch naval ballistic rounds, meaning fewer rounds can produce similar effects at less cost. To withstand the gun-launch environment, LRLAP uses an advanced rocket motor and hardened electronics, including a global positioning system and inertial measurement unit. LRLAP will be fielded in 2016, concurrent with the Initial Operational Capability for the first DDG 1000.