Optical seeker for precision-guided munitions to be developed by BAE Systems
NewsMay 07, 2018
NASHUA, N.H. Through the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) officials selected BAE Systems for a $13.1 million contract to demonstrate a new, optical seeker for precision-guided munitions for the Seeker Cost Transformation (SECTR) program.
BAE Systems tested the seeker during the first phase of DARPA’s SECTR program. The seeker integrates with a wide range of weapon platforms that use munitions and can operate in day or night, officials say.
The SECTER seeker also enables autonomous precision guidance via passive electro-optical and infrared sensors in environments where GPS navigation is unavailable or unreliable. This phase of the program will conclude in July 2019 with multiple test firings on several precision-guided munition platforms.
Engineers at BAE Systems designed the SECTR seeker to improve navigation, as well as automate target location and homing, for different types of munitions that are used in GPS-denied and other contested environments.
“Low-cost, precision munitions are critical to our customers, which is why we’ve developed a flexible seeker that radically lowers the cost typically associated with precision guidance,” says Mark Meisner, a chief scientist at BAE Systems. “The SECTR program is allowing us to deliver advanced sensing and navigation capabilities for munitions to warfighters faster.”
