La compañía Northrop Grumman desarrolla los kits de guiado para proyectiles de artillería 155mm del US ARMY. Una solución de bajo costo, los kits del tipo “add-on” van colocados en el alojamiento de la espoleta del proyectil convencional, manteniendo la función de esta última y realizando además guiado del proyectil por GPS, lo que permite batir blancos con precisión del orden de los 10m, extraordinario valor dentro del alcance de proyectiles de ese calibre.
PICATINNY ARSENAL, N.J. – U.S. Army explosives experts are looking to Northrop Grumman Corp. to provide precision-guidance kits to transform conventional 155-millimeter artillery shells into GPS-guided smart munitions.
Officials of the Army Contracting Command at Picatinny Arsenal, N.J., announced a $17 million order last week to The Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems segment (formerly Orbital ATK) in Plymouth, Minn., for M1156 precision guidance kits for the Army.
Northrop Grumman’s precision guidance kit (PGK) transforms existing 155-millimeter high-explosive artillery projectiles into affordable satellite-guided precision weapons.
The PGK uses signals from the Global Positioning System (GPS) to guide artillery shells to their targets with accuracy of less than 10 meters.
The low-cost reliable, fuze-sized guidance kit installs in the artillery shell’s fuze well and also provides traditional fuze functions for height-of-burst and point detonation, Northrop Grumman officials say.
PGK provides maneuver forces with an organic precision capability that works in all weather conditions, and fills a gap between conventional artillery and smart munitions capabilities.
