Orbital ATK has been awarded a $69m contract to produce artillery precision guidance kits (PGK) for the US military.
The contract exercises the company's second option from the US Government to deliver PGK fuses through 2019.
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Orbital ATK said that it recently produced 4,779 PGK fuses as part of a low-rate initial production contract, and has now transitioned to full-rate production.
The initial PGK production run passed nine separate lot acceptance tests, which evaluated the PGKs' ability to guide rounds in flight and perform fuse functions correctly under extreme environmental conditions.
Orbital ATK Armament Systems division vice-president and general manager Dan Olson said: “Extensive, rigorous testing continues to prove maturity of PGK technology in terms of producibility, reliability, performance and safety.
“This is an affordable, game-changing technology that provides the warfighter with precision and safety.”
Using PGK-fused projectiles, battlefield commanders will be able to safely employ artillery with greater accuracy and less risk of collateral damage.
The PGK integrates guidance and fuse functions for 155mm conventional artillery projectiles into one device.
Orbital ATK's guidance fuse is said to ensure artillery projectiles are reliably delivered within 30m of the intended target.
This degree of accuracy greatly reduces conventional artillery dispersion distances that can exceed 200m, the company said in a statement.
The PGK provides a fixed-canard guidance approach, with gun-hardened electronics and a self-generated power supply.
It also incorporates a fail-safe option that prevents the projectile from detonating if it does not land close enough to the target.
