Orbital to continue PGK production for US

Orbital ATK has signed a contract worth $120 million for additional production of the Precision Guidance Kit (PGK) with the US Army for 155mm artillery, the company announced on 9 March. The deliveries are scheduled to start in early 2016.

The Low Rate Initial Production started in January 2015. Under this contract, the company will carry out production, lot acceptance testing and delivery of the guidance fuzes for the US and select allied armies.

Dan Olson, vice president and general manager, armament systems division of Defense Systems Group, Orbital ATK, said: ‘This contract signing marks another significant milestone for the PGK programme. Fielding PGK for use with existing artillery projectiles provides soldiers with a distinct battlefield advantage by greatly reducing the inherent dispersion associated with conventional artillery.

‘As a proven and qualified technology, the next step is growing PGK into future precision applications for either existing or new direct and indirect fire weapons systems.’

The PGK is a guidance fuze that can be fitted within the fuze well of 155mm high-explosive artillery projectiles. The fuze then performs in-flight course corrections to reduce artillery dispersion. According to the company, the PGK will reduce normal artillery dispersion from over 200m to less than 30m.

Orbital ATK’s design features a fixed-canard guidance and control approach, a self-generated power supply and gun-hardened electronics. The PGK performs all the standard fuze functions and also includes a fail-safe that prevents the round from detonating if it is not close enough to the target.