The U.S. Army has awarded Lockheed Martin a $2.6 million contract to continue development of its Miniature Hit-to-Kill interceptor, or MHTK. The service is interested in using the weapon to help troops on the ground knock down incoming artillery projectiles and small unmanned aerial vehicles, but the tiny missile, or other designs leveraging some portion of its technology, could possibly evolve to take on other roles.
The Maryland-headquartered defense contractor announced the deal in a press release on June 13, 2018. The contract also moves the MHTK out of the experimental science and technology phase and into formal development. The Army is pursuing the interceptor as one of the multiple weapons that will work with its truck-mounted Multi-Mission Launcher as part of what is now called the Extended Mission Area Missile (EMAM) program. The launcher and the rest of the complete air defense system, including a networked command and control setup and mobile fire-control radar, are part of the larger and obtusely named Indirect Fire Protection Capability, Increment 2 – Intercept, or IFPC Inc 2-I, effort.