British Army Adopts Trailblazer Vision Suite for M270A2 Launchers as Deep Fires Push Grows.

Rheinmetall UK has secured a mid single-digit million euro contract to supply its Trailblazer Driver Vision and Local Situational Awareness System for the British Army’s upgraded M270A2 rocket launchers. The deal strengthens the service’s deep fires modernization push, improving crew protection and enabling faster shoot and scoot operations.

Rheinmetall confirmed on December 10 that the NATO Support and Procurement Agency has tasked its UK division with delivering the Trailblazer vision suite for Britain’s M270A2 Multiple Launch Rocket System fleet. Company officials said prototypes are expected in early 2026, followed by series production later in the year, with the system set to become the seventeenth military platform to adopt the technology. The upgrade arrives as London accelerates its deep fires transformation plan, a program shaped by lessons from Ukraine and a renewed NATO focus on countering Russian long-range strike networks.
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Rheinmetall will equip Britain's M270A2 launchers with the Trailblazer vision suite, boosting survivability and supporting NATO deep fires modernization (Picture source: Lockheed Martin).

Trailblazer is a software-defined armoured vision suite built around very low latency, high sensitivity day and infrared cameras positioned to support hatches down driving on both tracked and wheeled combat vehicles. The system offers selectable fields of view of roughly 90, 180, and 240 degrees, with separate forward and reverse units feeding multiple independent video channels for driver and commander. Latency is kept under 20 milliseconds on compact DCU and DDU displays, which are designed to fit into the cramped driver space of modern vehicles. Fully compliant with NATO Generic Vehicle Architecture video standards and DEF STAN 00-82, Trailblazer can output both Ethernet and HD SDI or analogue video, allowing it to integrate seamlessly with existing vetronics or operate as a stand-alone closed circuit system.

For an MLRS crew fighting under constant threat of drones, loitering munitions, and counter-battery radar, those technical details translate directly into survival and tempo. The upgraded British M270A2 already operates with a three-person crew inside an armoured cab; Trailblazer gives that crew a fused thermal and daylight picture around the launcher even in dust, smoke, rain, or at night, without exposing heads above the hatch. Very low latency video and wide-angle channels make it easier to back into cover, weave around obstacles, and conduct rapid shoot and scoot moves immediately after firing a salvo. Fusion and contrast enhancement improve the detection of dismounted threats or vehicles in cluttered terrain, closing one of the classic vulnerabilities of heavy rocket artillery when operating forward in urban or wooded environments.

The vision upgrade sits alongside a broader transformation of the British MLRS fleet to the M270A2 standard. The new configuration introduces a Common Fire Control System that allows the launcher to employ Extended Range GMLRS and the Precision Strike Missile, while a new engine, improved transmission, and redesigned armoured cabin increase mobility and crew protection. Survivability is further strengthened by the selection of a new 66 mm smoke discharger system for MLRS A2, a four-barrel launcher controlled by an in-cab fire control unit with night vision compatible indicators. This system can fire all in service UK 66 mm smoke natures, creating rapid visual and infrared obscuration to break the enemy line of sight. In practice, Trailblazer allows the driver to keep moving inside that man-made fog, while the launcher’s digital architecture and new cabin bring MLRS A2 closer to the Boxer and Challenger 3 standard across the British armoured fleet.

London’s decision to invest in Trailblazer on MLRS A2 is rooted in a wider deep fires modernisation drive shaped by the war in Ukraine and by NATO’s concern over Russian long-range air defense and strike networks. Parliamentary evidence and British Army planning documents describe a Land Deep Fires Programme that recapitalises M270 to remain in service out to around 2050, increases the launcher fleet from roughly two dozen operational vehicles to more than eighty, and introduces new effectors. The British Army has already committed substantial funding to procure GMLRS and Extended Range GMLRS rockets, and official Army material now highlights a One Launcher Many Payloads concept in which the M270A2 will field GMLRS, ER-GMLRS at roughly 150 km, Precision Strike Missile near 500 km, Land Precision Strike, and novel dispensing payloads developed under a dedicated technical demonstrator. In that context, Trailblazer is one of the enablers that allows a significantly larger British MLRS force to fight at high tempo, at night, and under contact, aligned with the broader Future Soldier plan to increase the Army’s fighting power by 2030.