AUSA 2025: First Looks at Increment 4 PRSM
The wonderful folks at Naval News have provided our first look at the future Increment 4 PRSM currently in development.
This new PRSM variant, as expected, integrates a ramjet with a solid rocket motor to extend the range out past the 500km of PRSM Increments 1 and 2. Funny enough, the requirements originally set out have been shifted downwards.
Originally expected to have a range of 1000+ Kilometers, company officials confirm to Naval News that the minimum requirement has shifted down to 800km.
Thats still significantly more than other competitors, however its interesting to me that this is the first we're hearing about this change. As many of you know, Increment 4 PRSM was one of the major highlights behind our choosing of HIMARS for LRPS-L.
Increment 4 will use the same seekers found in Increment 2, giving it both a land and Anti-Ship capability. Initial flight tests are planned for next year, along with Increment 2.
I won't copy the whole article. You can read their wonderful outlook here. I did want to quickly highlight it though, given how much we've talked about it over the last year.
Increment 4 PRSM gives Canada a land-based Strike and Anti-Ship capability out to 800km, enough to cover almost the entire Labrador Sea from the coasts of Labrador or the entirety of the North-West Passage from Cambridge Bay.
This aligns with the Army mandate of having a dedicated A2/AD capability in the Arctic, and even if I heavily question the plan, its still something set out, and so it can't be ignored.
The incremental approach to the Army's tactical network shows a core principle of large systems. Grand, revolutionary projects often fail. Slow, iterative upgrades, while less exciting, ensure system stability and gradual improvement. It is evolution over disruption.