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Infrared AASM Modular Air-to-Ground Weapon Test Fired
Paris, France (SPX) Feb 25, 2008 On February 5, 2008, the AASM modular air-to-ground weapon was successfully fired with an infrared homing device from a Mirage 2000 fighter. The firing completes the industrial validation of this second AASM version. Developed and manufactured by Sagem Defense Securite (SAFRAN Group), the AASM is in a class of its own worldwide. As a modular weapon, it consists of a guidance kit and a range enhancement kit that can be adapted to standard bomb bodies. As such, it can carry out highly accurate strikes with a range of more than 50km. The tested version integrates a terminal-guidance infrared imager that rounds out the inertial and GPS guidance of the basic version. The firing, which took place at the French defense procurement agency's Biscarosse test center, was particularly ambitious: it entailed hitting in a mock industrial zone a target whose GPS coordinates - transmitted to the AASM before the test - were purposely shifted several hundred meters from the actual position. The AASM's infrared imager used its image processing algorithms to identify the target several seconds before impact. It then corrected its trajectory at the last moment in order to hit the target with great accuracy. This demonstrates the capability of the infrared version of the AASM to carry out extremely precise strikes on targets whose GPS coordinates are not accurately known. Community Email This Article Comment On This Article Related Links The latest in Military Technology for the 21st century at SpaceWar.com
DRS Tech Gets Contract To Supply Marine Corps With Rugged Tablet Computers
Parsippany NJ (SPX) Jul 10, 2007DRS Technologies has received a $5 million award as part of a previous contract to provide military rugged tablet (MRT) computers and peripheral equipment for the U.S. Marine Corps' Target Location Designation Handoff System (TLDHS) program. DRS received the order from Stauder Technologies in St. Peters, Missouri. For this contract the company's DRS Tactical Systems business unit in Melbourne, Florida, will produce hundreds of the handheld MRT computers and peripheral equipment. |
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