Against the backdrop of current events in the world, it would be logical to expect rapid and drastic changes in the global arms market, with a radical “dropout” of segments and players, especially those originating from the United States. However, it seems that American arms manufacturers themselves continue to believe that their position in the foreign arena is unshakable.
And this can be traced on the example of the American defense corporation Lockheed Martin and its export positioning of missile systems for Tomahawk and for GMLRS guided missiles up to M142 HIMARS.
In the case of Tomahawk cruise missiles, we are talking about a family of mobile launchers using Mark 41 cells standard for the US Navy, in particular the Typhon medium-range complex.
And as the portal writes here Naval News, Lockheed Martin in the export positioning of such systemsemphasizes that cells from the Mark 41 allow the use of almost any type of missile weapon, that is, not only the Tomahawk, but also the SM-6 or PAC-3 to the Patriot, and even European-made anti-aircraft missiles CAMM and Aster.
At the same time, representatives of Lockheed Martin Corporation emphasize that it is quite convenient to load missiles into such a mobile launcher, the process is performed in a horizontal position, that is, a lot of specialized equipment is not required. But what draws attention here is their recognition of the situation that it is currently difficult to predict where such mobile installations based on the Mark 41 will be able to be sold.
And also their confidence that despite the radical narrowing of the role of the United States in the security system of Europe, the European defense contractors themselves will want to cooperate so closely up to the integration of their anti-aircraft missiles under the American Mark 41.
Another similar example is that although the GMARS missile system has a range of 400 km, there are no buyers for it yet, which was discussed literally at the end of March this year.
It is worth briefly recalling here that GMARS is a product of cooperation between Lockheed Martin and Rheinmetall and is an upgrade of the M142 HIMARS. As for GMARS, the signal that Germany itself did not want to buy this system and preferred the Israeli PULLS MLRS was very indicative, but against this background, Lockheed Martin announces active work with the military of as many as 14 European countries to promote its missile system to the European market.
And this is all adjusted for the fact that only in the summer of 2025 the first demonstration firing with GMARS should take place, and with an adjustment for the fact that all Western countries are now looking for weapons in the “yesterday” mode.
