BAE to demonstrate optical seeker for DARPA
BAE Systems has received a $13.1 million contract from DARPA to demonstrate a new optical seeker for precision-guided munitions, the company announced on 7 May.
The optical seeker has been designed to improve navigation and to automate target location and homing for different types of munitions that are used in GPS-denied and other contested environments. Its open architecture enables accurate, competitive, low-cost munitions to be capable of navigating and locating targets in limited-access and denied environments. The system provides these munitions with quick-reaction capabilities, while its open architecture enables rapid integration into current and new weapon systems.
The company tested the seeker during the first phase of DARPA’s Seeker Cost Transformation (SECTR) programme. The SECTR seeker integrates with a wide range of weapon platforms that use munitions and is able to operate during day or night. It enables autonomous precision guidance via passive electro-optical and infrared sensors in environments where GPS navigation is unavailable or unreliable.
Mark Meisner, chief scientist at BAE Systems, said: ‘Low-cost, precision munitions are critical to our customers, which is why we have developed a flexible seeker that radically lowers the cost typically associated with precision guidance. The SECTR programme is allowing us to deliver advanced sensing and navigation capabilities for munitions to warfighters faster.’
This phase of the programme will be completed in July 2019 with multiple test firings on several precision-guided munition platforms.
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