Northrop Grumman Corporation has received a development contract from the U.S. Navy for their newly designed 57mm guided high explosive ammunition.
The ammunition is intended for use with the Mk110 Naval Gun Mount, and Northrop Grumman will test and mature it for qualification. This new ammunition is unique in that it can continuously manoeuvre in flight as it moves towards a target.
“Our new 57mm guided ammunition is truly innovative in its ability to identify, track and guide itself to a target,” said Dave Fine, vice president, armament systems, Northrop Grumman. “The Navy will gain a greater capability to defend against moving threats and a new level of accuracy to defeat them.”
Designed for defence against fast-moving surface threats, drones, and swarming threats, the guided 57mm ammunition includes an on-board seeker to acquire moving targets and a fuze capable of self-selecting for either proximity or point-detonation mode to best engage and defeat the target.
Northrop Grumman’s expertise in guided munitions, such as the Precision Guidance Kit, has been leveraged to develop this new guided ammunition, which features seekers and an aft-maneuver system to provide continuous trajectory guidance no matter how often the target may pivot.
The Navy will be able to use this new guided ammunition to achieve greater stand-off range and have a cost-effective solution against small, fast-moving threats without any weapon system modifications.
