Lockheed Martin Delivers 100,000th GMLRS Rocket, Cites Output of Nearly 14,000 a Year

Lockheed Martin said on November 10 that it has delivered its 100,000th GMLRS rocket and is "now producing nearly 14,000 rockets per year," a production rate the company said was "achieved ahead of schedule." The milestones were recognized the same day at a ceremony in Camden, Arkansas, where the company builds the rocket.

The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, which reported the ceremony, described GMLRS rockets as precision-guided, all-weather, surface-to-surface weapons produced by Lockheed for the U.S. Army. Lockheed Martin calls GMLRS a precision strike rocket. It is fired from the M270 and HIMARS launchers.

In the same release, Lockheed Martin said its collaboration with General Dynamics Ordnance and Tactical Systems (GDOTS) recently completed the first test of a new solid rocket motor for GMLRS, which the release subhead describes as a ground test. The company said continued testing is planned, with motor qualification in 2027, leading to "a third domestic source" for a key component. GDOTS already supplies warheads, rocket motor cases and launch pod containers for the program, according to a GDOTS senior vice president quoted in the release.

Lockheed Martin said the program draws on more than 200 suppliers in 35 states, more than 50 of them designated small businesses. More than 200 employees support GMLRS production in Camden, and the company said the site is hiring 50% more employees across several munitions programs, including PAC-3 MSE and PrSM.

"Today's production milestones reinforce how Lockheed Martin is delivering with urgency, investing in our supply chain and ensuring American forces have what they need, before they need it, to defend here and around the world," Lockheed Martin's vice president and general manager for Tactical Missiles said in the release.

The company's own earlier statements give a sense of the pace. In a feature article published on August 4, 2025, Lockheed Martin said it had "delivered over 75,000 rockets" and was "completing the ramp to 14,000-unit annual capacity." Set against the November 2026 release, that puts deliveries at roughly 25,000 in about 15 months. The same feature said HIMARS launcher production capacity had increased from 48 to 96 launchers a year.

GlobalMilitary.net's inventory records, which track army inventories by country, show how many launchers those rockets serve. The figures are counts from the site's own records, not a census of every operator worldwide. They list the M142 HIMARS in 17 countries, with 583 launchers active and 728 on order. The United States accounts for 368 of the active launchers. Romania follows with 54, ahead of Ukraine with 41, the United Arab Emirates with 32 and Singapore with 24. Most of the order book is Polish: the records show 20 HIMARS active and 486 on order for the country's army. Taiwan has 11 active and 100 on order.

The M270 MLRS appears in 15 countries in the same records, with 728 launchers active and 35 on order. The United States holds 184 and Saudi Arabia 180, followed by South Korea with 58, Finland with 41 and Japan with 40. All 35 on order are for the United Kingdom, which has 26 active. Taken together, 29 countries hold HIMARS, M270 or both in the records, with 1,311 launchers active and 763 on order.

The next marker for the U.S. program is the motor qualification that Lockheed Martin plans for 2027; so far the new motor has completed only its first test. Rocket production is also being set up in Poland for a different launcher. The Polish Ministry of National Defence said on November 4 that construction had begun in Gorzów Wielkopolski on a plant of Hanwha WB Advanced System, a joint venture of Hanwha Aerospace and Poland's WB Group, that will produce rockets for the HOMAR-K launchers under a contract worth about 14 billion zloty signed on December 29, 2025, with target employment of over 200. The defense minister said the war in Ukraine shows the need to produce and replenish munitions stocks, according to the ministry. HOMAR-K is Poland's name for the K239 Chunmoo, of which GlobalMilitary.net's records show 174 active in Poland and 116 on order.