New missiles of reduced caliber are planned for HIMARS

This conclusion can be made from the Anduril statement, which, at the request of the US Army, will develop a new 4.75-inch (120.65 mm) solid rocket engine for “long-range precision rocket artillery.”

This was announced in Anduril’s press release.

“Today, I am pleased to share the U.S. Army has selected Anduril Rocket Motor Systems to develop and qualify a new 4.75-inch SRM to support the Army’s long-range precision rocket artillery missions.,” Dr. Neil Thurgood, Senior Vice President at Anduril, reported.

According to him, the U.S. Armed Forces need low-cost, high-precision firepower that can be produced in large quantities. Anduril’s solution will increase the amount of ammunition while maintaining the range, effectiveness, and lethality required on the modern battlefield.

“One of the biggest challenges in modern fires is ensuring more rounds per launcher without increasing the system’s footprint. The 4.75-inch form factor potentially allows for up to 30 guided rockets to be configured in a single HIMARS pod, drastically improving loadout within existing launcher constraints,” he said.

Anduril is said to be one of the first companies to develop rocket engines for the Army using this form factor. The program will include both manufacturing and testing of rocket engines. The company plans to use both traditional metalized aluminum-based propellants and Anduril’s advanced ALITEC propellant.

ALITEC fuel contains an aluminum-lithium alloy instead of aluminum. This ensures more even combustion and, as a result, increases the power of the rocket engine.

According to Anduril, missiles equipped with this fuel will have a 40% longer range than their counterparts using traditional fuel. It is estimated that if ATACMS missiles used ALITEC fuel, their range would increase by almost 70%.

Anduril also participates in the Enterprise Test Vehicle (ETV) program. This is a project of the US Air Force Office of the Weapons Directorate to create a low-cost cruise missile. For this purpose, the company uses its modular Barracuda-500.

The Barracuda-500 is a small cruise missile with a range of over 500 nautical miles (926 km) and a payload of over 100 pounds (45 kg). It is capable of performing 5G maneuvers and has a flight time of more than 120 minutes.

During the tests in September 2024, the Barracuda-500 made a successful vertical launch from a cell designed to simulate a launch from an airplane, performed autonomous navigation, and stayed in flight for over 30 minutes. In addition, the missile successfully captured a target with the specified GPS coordinates and performed autonomous guidance at the final stage of the flight.

Later this year, Anduril will conduct another series of tests to demonstrate the ability to simultaneously launch multiple Barracuda-500 missiles, communication between missiles in flight, and their coordination.