BAE SYSTEMS LASER SEEKER FLIGHT TEST HITS BULLSEYE

BAE SYSTEMS laser seeker successfully guided a 70mm rocket to a second bullseye on a small target nearly two miles from its launch point, Aug. 28. The flight test supports the U.S. Army's Advanced Precision Kill Weapons Systems (APKWS) System Development and Demonstration (SDD) flight test program.

BAE SYSTEMS Distributed Aperture Semi-Active Laser Seeker (DASALS) takes advantage of multiple distributed apertures to effectively convert an unguided munition or rocket into a "precision� weapon that seeks and destroys enemy lightly armoured and point targets while preventing collateral damage.

The 70mm laser guided rocket, using a unique mid-body fin-mounted guidance system, hit less than a metre from the target centre during a flight test at the U.S. Army's Yuma Proving Ground in Arizona. Data and analysis from last month's short-range shot will be used to update simulation models and make adjustments to the autopilot.

"We're optimistic this kind of performance is setting the pace for the remainder of the 25-month SDD that began in February,� said Carol Frazier, U.S. Army Aviation Rockets and Missiles program manager, adding its Initial Design Review is set for later this fall.

In March, BAE SYSTEMS Information & Electronic Warfare Systems (IEWS), headquartered in Nashua, N.H., was awarded a $26.7 million contract by the APKWS lead, General Dynamics Armament and Technical Products, Burlington, Vermont, to develop and demonstrate the guidance section for the APKWS Block I program. APKWS is planned for use on rotary and fixed wing aircraft, unmanned air vehicles, and ground vehicles.

A Controlled Test Vehicle (CTV) was fired last year to verify airframe control and response to guidance commands under an Advanced Technology Demonstration Program. During the test, the CTV also hit the target less than a meter of the target centre from a three-mile launch point.