U.S. Army Plans to Buy Up to 133,000 GMLRS Rockets for HIMARS

The U.S. Army plans to procure up to 133,000 rockets from the GMLRS family, including the extended-range GMLRS ER variant, by 2034.

The information comes from a request published on the U.S. government’s SAM.gov procurement portal.

Interested manufacturers must provide a detailed description of their production capacity, experience and technical approach for producing 19,002 rockets of various variants annually.

Deliveries are scheduled to begin in 2030, although U.S. military leadership is considering the possibility of receiving this quantity of rockets as early as 2028.

The current manufacturer of GMLRS family rockets is U.S. defense contractor Lockheed Martin, which had produced slightly more than 75,000 of these weapons as of August 2025.

The company previously announced plans to increase its annual production capacity to 14,000 rockets.

GMLRS Rockets

GMLRS and GMLRS ER rockets are launched from the M270 and M142 HIMARS multiple rocket launchers.

The basic GMLRS was developed during the Cold War and is currently produced in the M30A2 and M31A2 variants. They use satellite and inertial guidance systems.

The M30A2 is equipped with a fragmentation warhead containing tungsten spheres. It is designed to engage personnel and lightly armored vehicles at ranges of up to 84 kilometers.

The M31A2 variant is equipped with a unitary high-explosive warhead designed for precision strikes against targets. The rocket has a range of up to 84 kilometers.

The GMLRS ER is an extended-range variant capable of engaging targets at distances of up to 150 kilometers. Its range was increased through the use of a larger motor, a redesigned body and the relocation of the control surfaces from the nose to the rear.

Like the basic variant, the extended-range GMLRS ER is produced with both high-explosive and tungsten-sphere warheads, while a combined GPS and inertial navigation system provides guidance to the target.