UNMANNED RANGE-PROGRAMMABLE AIRBURST WEAPON SYSTEM FOR AUTOMATED TRACKING AND PROSECUTION OF CLOSE-IN TARGETS

摘要

An unmanned range-programmable airburst weapon system provides automated tracking and prosecution of soft targets such as UAVs at close ranges. A range-programmable gun that fires airburst rounds and a seeker that images the target within a FOV are mounted on a gimbaled turret. A tracking controller is responsive to a target cue to point the seeker to acquire the target and to subsequent tracking commands from the seeker to maintain the target in the seeker's FOV. A fire controller is responsive to tracking commands and range-to-target measurements to compute a ballistic firing solution to range program an airburst round and to point and fire the gun so that the round explodes in mid-air at a predicted target position.

主权项

1. A weapon system for automated tracking and prosecution of close-in non-projectile targets, comprising:
a gimbaled turret configured to pitch and yaw to point the turret; a gun mounted on the turret, said gun configured to fire range-programmable airburst rounds to prosecute close-in non-projectile targets to provide perimeter protection for a protected zone; a feed for said range-programmable airburst rounds; and a control unit mounted on the turret, said control unit comprising:
a seeker comprising collection optics and an IR sensor mounted for imaging the non-projectile target within a field-of-view (FOV) and a tracking processor to generate tracking commands;a range finder for generating range-to-target measurements;a tracking controller responsive to a target cue to point the seeker to acquire the target and to subsequent tracking commands to maintain the target in the IR sensor's FOV; anda fire controller responsive to tracking commands and range-to-target measurements to compute a ballistic firing solution including a direction to point at a predicted target position, a time to fire and a detonation range for an airburst round and execute the fire solution by selecting and range programming an airburst round with said detonation range and pointing and firing the gun in the direction at the time to fire so that the round explodes in mid-air at the predicted target position.