A US Army M777 towed 155mm howitzer fires during a live-fire exercise, 19 April 2026. Illustrative of the 155mm artillery context; not Vektrex. US Army photo by Sgt. Matthew Sprowl / DVIDS (public domain).

Transatlantic Bet on Guided Artillery: Rheinmetall and General Atomics Explore Vektrex 155mm Co-Production

Technical Summary

On 18 June 2026, at the Eurosatory 2026 land-defence exhibition in Paris, Rheinmetall AG and General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems (GA-EMS) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to explore cooperative production of Vektrex, a manoeuvring 155 millimetre (mm) precision-guided munition (PGM) developed by GA-EMS. The agreement was signed by GA-EMS President Scott Forney and the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Rheinmetall's Weapon and Ammunition Division, Roman Koehne. It positions the projectile for large-scale series production on Rheinmetall's North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) compliant manufacturing base.

Vektrex is a glide-extended, course-correcting artillery projectile compatible with fielded 39-calibre (L39) and 52-calibre (L52) 155mm gun systems without modification to launchers, loaders, propelling charges or logistics. Deployable wings generate lift for an aerodynamic glide phase that, GA-EMS states, extends engagement range by two to three times over conventional projectiles. GA-EMS product literature places the achievable reach at approximately 120 kilometres (km), depending on the calibre of cannon and propellant load; the two co-production releases do not themselves restate the figure.

Vektrex delivers manoeuvring strike capability in contested and GPS-degraded environments, extending engagement range two to three times beyond conventional artillery projectiles while reducing integration risk for fielded artillery formations. GA-EMS and Rheinmetall joint statement, 18 June 2026

Analysis of Effects

A conventional 155mm high-explosive (HE) projectile such as the L15 reaches roughly 24km from an L39 barrel and around 30km with a base-bleed unit; rocket-assisted natures extend this further. A two-to-three-times multiplier therefore implies a band of approximately 60km to 120km, placing Vektrex in the operational space between tube artillery and the Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System (GMLRS, roughly 70km to 150km). The value proposition is not raw range but accuracy at range: GA-EMS describes guided engagement of stationary, moving and obscured targets, and explicitly claims performance where the Global Positioning System (GPS) is degraded or denied, implying an inertial or seeker-aided terminal solution rather than GPS-only correction.

Because Vektrex fires from unmodified 39 and 52-calibre systems, the round is a projectile-and-software upgrade to existing gun lines rather than a new weapon system. For artillery formations this lowers integration risk and preserves the established ammunition logistics chain across fleets from the PzH 2000 to towed L52 howitzers. The companies frame the round as a lower cost-per-effect alternative to tactical missiles for survivable standoff fires, the recurring lesson of high-intensity attrition warfare in which guided-munition demand consistently outpaces manufacturing output.

Personnel and Safety Considerations

As a guided projectile, Vektrex couples a conventional 155mm HE warhead and propelling-charge stack with onboard guidance electronics and, for any course-correcting fuze or canard actuation, an internal power source. Open sources do not disclose the warhead fill, the net explosive quantity (NEQ) in kilograms of trinitrotoluene (TNT) equivalent, the fuzing architecture, or the United Nations (UN) hazard classification (Hazard Division and Compatibility Group) for the all-up round or its guidance section. Until a hazard classification is assigned, storage and transport authorities cannot finalise quantity-distance and segregation rules, and energetic devices in the guidance and actuation train (thermal batteries and initiators) carry their own compatibility-group considerations alongside the projectile body. These are routine certification questions for any new guided nature, not specific concerns, but they are unresolved at MoU stage.

Data Gaps

Open sources do not yet establish a confirmed maximum range by host system and charge; the warhead type and NEQ; the guidance and seeker architecture (inertial, semi-active laser, radar or multimode); the fuze type and arming logic; the UN hazard classification (Hazard Division and Compatibility Group) of the complete round; unit cost; the production split, sites and timeline under the MoU; or whether any launch customer or NATO Design Number (NDN) is in prospect. The two-to-three-times range claim is the manufacturers' own; the approximately 120km figure derives from GA-EMS product literature rather than the two co-production releases.

Corrections & updates welcome. If you hold open-source data that refines or corrects any parameter in this article, please contact [email protected] citing the specific claim and your source. Verified corrections will be incorporated and credited in the revision history. AI-assisted technical assessment based on open-source material. Not a formal intelligence product.