Army asks to cancel NLOS-LS - Military News | News From Afghanistan, Iraq And Around The World - Military Times

Army asks to cancel NLOS-LS

After completing a review of its precision fires portfolio, the Army is recommending the Defense Department cancel the Non-Line of Sight Launch System (NLOS-LS) program.

Army senior leaders decided on the move at a Thursday meeting, according to sources. Because NLOS-LS is an acquisition category 1 program, Pentagon acquisition chief Ashton Carter will have the final say.

Originally part of the Army’s Future Combat Systems program, NLOS-LS is also intended for the Navy’s Littoral Combat Ship. It is being developed by Netfires LLC, a joint venture between Raytheon and Lockheed Martin, which builds the system’s container launcher unit.

After poor test results earlier this year, the Army had to decide whether to pay for additional tests and fixes and accept schedule delays, or cancel the program.

The NLOS-LS Precision Attack Missile failed to hit its target four out of six times during a flight-limited user test at White Sands Missile Range, N.M., between Jan. 26 and Feb. 5. The Army determined that fixing the system’s problems would delay the program more than a year and keep it from being included in the first brigade set of Increment 1 equipment of the Brigade Combat Team-Modernization program, Maj. Gen. Keith Walker, commander of the service’s Future Force Integration Directorate, told reporters in Fort Bliss, Texas, earlier this month.

In addition to performance troubles, members of Congress and Army officials have also raised concerns about the cost of NLOS-LS.

In the Army’s budget request for 2011, each Precision Attack Missile costs $466,000. Once the missile reached full-rate production, both the service and industry expected that number to fall. Raytheon said in a March letter to the Army that the company planned to reduce the average unit production price to $198,000 for the Army’s acquisition objective of 9,942 missiles.

Still, concerns remained.

“It's very expensive,” said Lt. Gen. Robert Lennox, deputy chief of staff for Army programs, responding to a question from Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., at an April 15 hearing of the Senate Armed Services air and land forces subcommittee.

Lennox told Thune the Army is reviewing the system as part of an overall precision fires capability portfolio review.

“The Army needs options for precision targeting moving vehicles with a more cost-effective munition,” read an early briefing chart on the precision fires portfolio review.

“We're going through and saying what gap does this fill, and then looking at the cost of it and looking at the benefit for soldiers,” Lennox said. “We’re taking it very seriously.”

In an e-mailed statement, Raytheon said it was disappointed by the decision to cancel the NLOS-LS program.

“To date the NLOS-LS program is 90 percent complete with system design and development. Raytheon is the leader in precision technology and recognizes the warfighters’ critical need for immediately responsive, all-weather precision fires. We stand ready to continue development of this important capability should the customer decide to resume the program,” the company statement said.