The LRMP is a precision submunition with wings designed for artillery and rocket artillery platforms.
General Atomics continues to develop an artillery submunition that can reach targets scores of miles away and operate even in the most difficult operational environments. But what makes the Long Range Maneuvering Projectile (LRMP) particularly promising is its potential anti-ship capabilities that could be used against the Chinese Navy.
The Long Range Maneuvering Projectile (LRMP)
The LRMP is a precision submunition with wings designed for artillery and rocket artillery platforms.
According to General Atomics, the submunition has increased maneuverability that enables it to shape flight paths and engage targets in a wide range of conditions, including obstructed, static, and moving targets.
The defense company has successfully tested the LRMP on the M-777 155mm towed howitzer.
The submunition comes with a reported range of 120 kilometers (about 75 miles) and is particularly promising because it can engage targets in GPS-denied environments. In other words, the LRMP can operate even if the adversary force has erected potent electronic warfare defenses around its forces to prevent smart munitions relying on GPS to engage troops and weapon systems. The submunition can do so by using onboard high-altitude terrain imaging systems and internally developed inertial guidance systems. If General Atomics delivers on this aspect of the submunition, it will make the LRMP extremely valuable in a potential near-peer conflict against China or Russia.
The Naval Application
But General Atomics has been working on the anti-ship potential of the LRMP as well. The defense company is working on incorporating the submunition to rocket artillery systems, including the Precision Strike Missile (PrSM) and the Extended-Range GMLRS (ER-GMRLS).
These two rocket artillery munitions can be fired from the Army’s and Marine Corps’ M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) and M270 Multiple Launch Rocket System. If the LRMP can be successfully paired with these two munitions, the US military will have a credible anti-ship capability.
“Submunitions we’re looking at is [sic] something like a GMLRS or PrSM-type platform. You can get a GMLRS or even a Zuni rocket and it gets [LRMP] out further. Given [the submunitions’] extended glide ability, you get an extended range,” Mike Rucker, head of GA-EMS Weapons, told Naval News during the Association of the US Army 2025 conference.
An ER-GMLRS munition has a range of around 150 kilometers (93 miles). The LRMP can fly for up to 120 kilometers (about 75 miles) beyond that range. Thus, if paired with the ER-GMLRS, the LRMP would achieve a range of approximately 270 kilometers (167 miles). Three LRMPs can fit inside one ER-GMRLS rocket.
The LRMP would achieve an even longer range if successfully paired with the PrSM. The PrSM has a range of around 500 kilometers (310 miles). Thus, the LRMP-PrSM combination would have a range of approximately 620 kilometers (385 miles). Such a range would allow Army and Marine Corps rocket artillery units to engage Chinese warships approaching Taiwan from the east all the way from Okinawa.
“LRMP is an exciting munition that we’ve been developing on [internal research and development funds]. We’re currently under contract with the U.S. Army and U.S. Navy to help with the testing. It’s an exciting, new munition that we expect to be ready for final test and delivery by the end of 2026,” Rucker added.
According to General Atomics, each LRMP round has a payload of a 120mm artillery round. In addition to kinetic strikes, the LRMP has intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance capabilities.
About the Author: Stavros Atlamazoglou
Stavros Atlamazoglou is a seasoned defense journalist specializing in special operations and a Hellenic Army veteran (national service with the 575th Marine Battalion and Army HQ). He holds a BA from the Johns Hopkins University and an MA from the Johns Hopkins’ School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS). His work has been featured in Business Insider, Sandboxx, and SOFREP.
Image: DVIDS.
