The US Army has given Lockheed Martin a $65 million three-year contract to build six prototypes of the HIMARS (High Mobility Artillery Rocket System). This system, designed to provide the striking power for the new Medium Brigades, mounts the fire controls and one rocket pod from the Multiple-Launch Rocket System on a 5-ton truck from the Family of Medium Tactical Vehicles. The contract is designed to produce systems to test (they will be delivered in 2001-2002) and to prepare the HIMARS for production. The Army eventually plans to buy 363 of these rocket trucks. The truck-mounted rocket launchers are lighter than the track-mounted armored versions (making them easier to fly overseas and cheaper to operate).--Stephen V Cole