to reduce costs and improve air mobility in a post–Cold War world, LOSAT eventually emerged on an extended-length heavy-duty Humvee with a hard-top containing four KEMs ready to fire, along with a trailer containing another eight rounds in two-round packs. The new guidance system could keep two missiles in flight to separate targets, allowing the vehicle to salvo fire its weapons against a tank squadron in a few seconds. Reaching speeds of , LOSAT was in the air from launch to maximum range for under four seconds, making counterfire extremely difficult. The range was beyond that of existing main tank guns, allowing the LOSAT to fire and move before tanks could maneuver into a position to return fire. The first KEMs were test fired in 1990, and a contract for continued development was placed by the Army. This was much slower in pace, and it was only in 1997 that an Advanced Technology Concept Demonstrator program started to bring the system to production quality. The contract called for 12 LOSAT vehicles and 144 KEMs, to be delivered by 2003. Even before this contract was complete, the Army asked for a production run of another 108 missiles in August 2002. The first of the 12 LOSAT units was delivered in October 2002, and the system began a series of 18 production-qualification test firings in August 2003, at White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. By March 2004, 18 KEMs had been fired at targets under a variety of conditions, both during the day and night. Another 8 were fired in the summer of 2004 at Fort Bliss as part of a user-testing exercise. Cancellation By the time the test program was finished it was obvious the Army was going to cancel LOSAT after the low-rate initial production (LRIP) batch of about 435 missiles was delivered. By this point the Army had already started work on a system known as the Compact Kinetic Energy Missile (or CKEM), based on the LOSAT concepts but smaller and lighter, more in tune with real-world threats. As it turned out, even the LRIP contract was never funded, and the LOSAT program terminated. Notes External links Globalsecurity article on the LOSAT Video of LOSAT in action Anti-tank guided missiles of the United States Abandoned military rocket and missile projects of the United States