posted on Mar, 25 2005 @ 12:01 PM
SUCCESSFUL FLIGHT TEST OF THE LONG RANGE LAND ATTACK PROJECTILE FOR THE NAVY’S FUTURE DESTROYER, DD(X)
Mar 23, 2005
"Washington, DC, March 22, 2005 -- The DD(X) National Team, led by Northrop Grumman and Raytheon, in partnership with United Defense, Lockheed Martin
and General Dynamics, conducted a successful guided flight test of the Long Range Land Attack Projectile (LRLAP) on Thursday, February 24, 2005. The
LRLAP is currently under development for the Advanced Gun System (AGS) being developed for the United States Navy’s multi-mission destroyer, DD(X).
LRLAP is a 155mm GPS (Global Positioning System) guided gun launched projectile capable of precision fire support at ranges up to 83 nautical miles."
“The LRLAP will bring unmatched, precision fire support to jointly operated battlefields.” said Brian Cuccias, Northrop Grumman Vice President and
DD(X) Program Manager, “We are proud of the DD(X) program’s success and we are proud to provide such advanced technologies to our Navy and Marine
Corp partners.”
“Land attack is a very important mission for the U.S. Navy, and the LRLAP round fired from the Advanced Gun System aboard the DD(X) is key to
satisfying that mission going forward,” said Keith Howe, Vice President and General Manager of United Defense’s Armament Systems Division. “This
test demonstrates that our team is on track in the development of a highly lethal, long range land attack weapon designed to provide U.S. Marine
forces ashore with the Naval Surface Fire Support they need to fight and win future battles.”
“The successful test firings of the LRLAP design have demonstrated that it is technically feasible to field the capability of long range guided
munitions fired from Navy gun systems,” said Jim Schoppenhorst, Program Director for DD(X) at United Defense. “These tests validate the Advanced
Gun System’s ability to provide the fire support necessary for the DD(X) destroyer to achieve its land attack mission.”
(Edited to make it shorter)
With LRLAP, its no wonder why DD(X) will only have 80 missiles.