More than 10,000 precision guidance kits for artillery projectiles have been delivered to the U.S. Army, Orbital ATK reports.
The kit combines guidance and fuze function for conventional artillery projectiles into one device, providing enhanced accuracy and reducing the risk of collateral damage when engaging high-value targets.
“More than 1,000 PGKs have been tested over the course of development and production,” said Dan Olson, vice president and general manager for Orbital ATK’s Armament Systems Division of the Defense Systems Group. “These tests prove PGK’s maturity in terms of producibility, reliability, performance and safety. Based on our experience, we see that PGK technology has the potential for greater integration across current and future indirect- and direct-fire systems.”
Orbital ATK said with its precision guidance kit artillery rounds are reliably delivered to within 98 feet of the intended target. During recent lot acceptance tests, randomly selected PGK fuzes provided accuracy better than 39 feet Circular Error Probable and performed all fuze functions with a perfect safety record.
The PGK, which replaces standard fuzes, features a fixed-canard guidance approach, gun-hardened electronics and a self-generated power supply. It also has a fail-safe option: If the projectile does not get close enough to its target it will not detonate.
“PGK is a great success story and tremendous capability for our artillery,” said Army Product Manager, Lt. Col. Anthony Gibbs. “Not only have we reached a milestone in production, our soldiers have now fired it more than 1,000 times during recent operations — and it’s really giving them an unfair advantage.”
Orbital ATK is producing the kits for the Army through 2019.
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