Lockheed Martin and Raytheon are competing for the US Army’s Common Autonomous Multi-Domain Launcher (CAML) program.
A Lockheed spokesperson and Raytheon President of Land and Air Defense Systems Tom Laliberty each confirmed their respective companies’ participation in the program with Breaking Defense. However, both declined to share specific details regarding their proposed solutions or plans to partner with other defense firms.
“I think [this is] another kind of technology that would be of interest for something like Golden Dome, just because of the vastness of the United States and the ability to have autonomy in terms of being able to deploy capabilities where you need them,” Laliberty said.
Following a contract award, prototype evaluations will take place in 18 to 36 months.
CAML Program
The US Army describes the CAML as an “autonomous/optionally crewed, highly mobile, air transportable, cross domain fires launcher with the potential to augment or replace existing Army launchers.”
In late June, the service published a request for proposals seeking a heavy and medium variant of the autonomous launchers.
The CAML Heavy will be mounted onto an M1075 Palletized Loading System tactical vehicle or a similar, 15-ton (30,000-pound) chassis. It will launch either Tomahawk missiles or Patriot Advanced Capabilities Three (PAC-3) Missile Segment Enhancement interceptors.
Meanwhile, the CAML Medium will use a Family of Medium Tactical Vehicles as its base, firing either a Multiple Launch Rocket System munition or an Indirect Fire Protection Capability AIM-9X interceptor.
