After a disappointing test run earlier this year, the U.S. industry team pursuing the Non-Line-of-Sight Launch System (NLOS-LS) is mapping out a new path forward, according to Raytheon Missile Systems. Plans should be unveiled within the next 60 days.

NLOS-LS is a joint program between the U.S. Army and Navy; the recent failure of four of six shots during an Army limited user test (LUT) of the system is being watched closely by all parties. Across the Pentagon’s portfolio, problematic programs have been canceled or shelved as budget and performance pressures work their way down through the acquisition system.

“I think one of the things we’ve learned is that we will never go into a LUT sequence again with new functionality or modes,” said Raytheon’s deputy vice president of land combat, Michelle Lohmeier. The LUT should “be the graduation exercise. Where everything has been fully vetted.” She said the underlying root cause for two of the four misses has been identified and solved, while the other two failures are still being evaluated.

Raytheon and corporate partner Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control, which builds the container launch unit (including the computer and communications system), along with the Army and Navy, will “finalize the details of a plan forward” within the next two months. “Clearly we would prefer to be starting low-rate initial production,” Lohmeier said. “But I think based on what the plan looks like, I don’t envision this as a complete re-do.”

A bright spot for Raytheon has been the recent evaluation of the NLOS-LS precision attack missile (PAM) price. The government estimated an average production unit cost of more than $300,000. But Raytheon was able to get the cost down to $198,000, which covers 9,942 missiles over the next 12 years. “The meat behind that is a mature, detailed cost reduction initiative we’ve been working on,” Lohmeier said.

Photo: Raytheon