REDSTONE ARSENAL, Ala. (July 16, 2025) – Not all rocket systems aim for the moon and shoot for the stars, sometimes it’s about how many rockets can be shot at once. In this case it’s the ability to shoot up to 30 rounds at a time, saturating an area in the battlefield. That is the focus behind the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Aviation & Missile Center’s Direct Support Fires Technology, or DSFT.
DSFT is an initiative that demonstrates a low-cost artillery rocket that is compatible with current launchers with the ability to be produced in large quantities and increases the capability to mass fires.
“What we’ve seen among users around the world is that they don’t shoot many rockets at their max range and want to have more rockets engage targets at shorter ranges” shared Hunter Blackwell, Fire Support Capability Area Lead. “The Army has been developing the Precision Strike Missile, or PrSM, which is two rockets in a pod, and the replacement for the Army’s Tactical Missile System, or ATACMS, the one rocket in a pod system. DSFT is a concept that will answer those desires from the user community: to not only deliver more rockets to the battlefield but fired faster and easier for the Soldier’s to reload.
“The unique thing about rockets and this type of approach is it allows the ability to rapidly converge, or saturate, a lot of firepower to one place. We will use a pod of 30 rockets that would launch one or two per second from a currently fielded launcher. That launcher converges 30 rockets onto one point or one area of the battlefield in a way that increases the ability to saturate the area.”
DSFT addresses key gaps identified in the field—providing an effective and efficient way to deliver effects on the battlefield.
“The rocket is intended to do multiple things, it’s not just a weapon to deliver lethal effects," Blackwell said. “It’s intended to also deliver effects like smoke or illumination to the battlefield in ways that rocket artillery hasn’t done before. That’s another key way to expand the types of rockets and the opportunities to work with more partners in different entities.”
To date, the program went from planning on paper to flying rockets at Project Convergence Capstone 25 in nine months. Firing multiple rockets during the test event. Blackwell says this is one of the program’s greatest successes, and the next step is to pull from that momentum.
“We want DEVCOM AvMC to be a collaborator with industry to get capabilities out sooner, and this is a great program to do that because it is designed to have more than one company working with us. We intend to have multiple companies working throughout the life of this program so we can go fast and be affordable. We do that by having more than one player in the game with us.”
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The U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command, known as DEVCOM, is Army Futures Command’s leader and integrator within a global ecosystem of scientific exploration and technological innovation. DEVCOM expertise spans eight major competency areas to provide integrated research, development, analysis and engineering support to the Army and DOD. From rockets to robots, drones to dozers, and aviation to artillery – DEVCOM innovation is at the core of the combat capabilities American Warfighters need to win on the battlefield of the future. For more information, visit devcom.army.mil/.
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