The Lockheed Martin and Rheinmetall partnered Global Mobile Artillery Rocket System (GMARS) live fired for the first time at White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico (US Army)
WASHINGTON — The Army has officially opened up four of its domestic testing ranges and one international range where private industry can blast off interceptor missiles they have developed with their own funds, in hopes of getting promising candidates into the acquisition pipeline faster.
Currently, defense companies, particularly smaller nontraditional vendors, often face wait times of up to 12 to 18 months to secure a spot on ranges — namely White Sands Missile Range — to test their systems, Secretary of the Army Dan Driscoll told reporters today.
“That is not sufficient,” Driscoll said. “If you look at what Ukraine has done so incredibly well, it’s this innovation through necessity and it’s innovation at the speed that is near or close to matching the commercial sector. So what we, the Army, are trying to do is break down every single barrier that we have put up over the last 20 or 30 years.”
Driscoll said the Army’s goal is to get companies onto testing ranges within 30 days of when they submit a request through a newly launched website which Driscoll said will provide “concierge access to every range.” Participating firms are expected to use Internal Research and Development (IRAD) money to develop their offers.
