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The U.S. Army has awarded Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman other transaction agreements (OATs) for the first phase of the Launched Effects (LE) program.
Launched Effects “will provide standoff sense and effect capabilities for soldiers while keeping air and ground forces outside the range of adversary weapon systems,” according to the service’s Program Executive Office for Intelligence, Electronic Warfare and Sensors. It also said LE will also support forces entering and exiting mission areas.
Northrop has been awarded for two payloads and Lockheed Martin has been awarded for one, with each award valued at about $100,000, according to the Army. The OTA will total about $37 million over all three phases.
The LE program consists of three phases. During that span, the Army aims to mature payloads from a technology readiness level of 6, a prototype system that has been tested in a relevant environment, to TRL 7, a prototype that has been demonstrated in an operational environment.
Launched effects have been successfully tested by the Army in the past, including at Project Convergence. In January 2023, General Atomics Aeronautical Systems announced its Eaglet launched-effect flew for the first time, dropping off an Army-owned Gray Eagle Extended Range UAV during a demonstration in Utah.