Army looks to add third CAML system, Lozano says

WASHINGTON — The Army is looking to expand its Common Autonomous Multi-Domain Launcher (CAML) program by adding a third, light variant in partnership with the Australian military.

“I’ve been asked by the vice [chief of staff] and our acting chief to execute in conjunction with the Australians a CAML-light sprint to help the Australians meet some of their capability requirements,” Lt. Gen. Frank Lozano, the Portfolio Acquisition Executive for Fires, told an audience at the annual AUSA conference Wednesday. 

He added that a request for information (RFI) will be coming out in the near future, and the service is looking to make some “early selections” in the March to April timeframe that could result in a a “potential” live-fire demo in either June or July, later leading to a down select.

Lozano did not disclose details on why the Army is looking for a light variant — the Army has previously stated it was looking for just medium and heavy variants — nor did he share details on the Australian military’s role in the program.

The CAML program is set to serve as a replacement for the Army’s Typhon — its Mid-Range Capability (MRC) long-range launcher — after the service discovered it was too large to operate on the battlefield. The new launchers will be an autonomous, optionally crewed, “highly mobile” cross-domain fires launcher designed to be air transportable.  

The announcement of the light variant comes after the service awarded Georgia Tech Research Institute in September up to $33.4 million to be the lead weapons systems integrator for the medium variant of CAML. Lozano said Wednesday that a munitions palette provider and the autonomous platform provider for the medium program should be awarded in the next 30 days. 

As for the heavy variant, Lozano said Wednesday that his office is “starting to look” at the 2028-2029 timeframe for the launcher.

“We’re looking at a strategy here where we take a scenario where we don’t have every missile having its own unique launcher and [we’re] trying to collapse down [to] a maximum of three,” Lozano said. “But that generically is the timeline, and we massage and adjust that timeline as we learn more about industry’s capabilities to deliver what we need.”  

Similar to the medium CAML variant, Lozano emphasized that there will be more than one vendor working on the light variant to avoid “manufacturing constraint” on the defense industrial base.

“We have to break the old tradition of doing a competition and going down to one vendor, and then going all in on one single vendor, because then you just created a sole source environment, a choke point, and a manufacturing constraint,” Lozano said. “The intent is we want to be able to have multiple different missile and munition solutions for every type of capability requirement we’re trying to develop.”