Low Cost Autonomous Attack System
Encyclopedia
Lockheed Martin
Lockheed Martin is an American global aerospace, defense, security, and advanced technology company with worldwide interests. It was formed by the merger of Lockheed Corporation with Martin Marietta in March 1995. It is headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, in the Washington Metropolitan Area....
began to examine the feasibility of a small, affordable cruise missile
Cruise missile
A cruise missile is a guided missile that carries an explosive payload and is propelled, usually by a jet engine, towards a land-based or sea-based target. Cruise missiles are designed to deliver a large warhead over long distances with high accuracy...
weapon for use against armoured and unarmoured vehicles, materiel
Materiel
Materiel is a term used in English to refer to the equipment and supplies in military and commercial supply chain management....
and personnel, and if so develop a demonstration program. The program has cost approx. $150,000,000 so far; the cost per unit is calculated to be $30,000 based on a production of 12,000 units.
After being launched from a weapon platform
Weapons platform
A weapons platform is generally any structure or system on which a weapon can be mounted. For example, a fighter jet is a weapons platform for missiles, bombs or autocannons. Other vehicles such as the Humvee are considered weapons platforms as well, such as for grenade launchers, machine guns and...
, it is guided by GPS
Global Positioning System
The Global Positioning System is a space-based global navigation satellite system that provides location and time information in all weather, anywhere on or near the Earth, where there is an unobstructed line of sight to four or more GPS satellites...
/INS
Inertial navigation system
An inertial navigation system is a navigation aid that uses a computer, motion sensors and rotation sensors to continuously calculate via dead reckoning the position, orientation, and velocity of a moving object without the need for external references...
to the target general area, where it can loiter. A laser radar
LIDAR
LIDAR is an optical remote sensing technology that can measure the distance to, or other properties of a target by illuminating the target with light, often using pulses from a laser...
(LIDAR or LADAR) illuminates the targets, determines their range, and matches their 3-D geometry with pre-loaded signatures. The LOCAAS system then selects the highest priority target and selects the warhead's mode
Explosively Formed Penetrator
An explosively formed penetrator , also known as an explosively formed projectile, a self-forging warhead, or a self-forging fragment, is a special type of shaped charge designed to penetrate armour effectively at standoff distances...
for the best effect.
It is part of the Small Bomb System (SBS) program.
Specifications
- Weight: 100 lb (45.4 kg)
- Length: 36 in (914.4 mm)
- Speed: 200 knots (392 km/h)
- Search altitude: 750 ft (228.6 m)
- Footprint: 25 sqnmi
- Motor: 30 lbf (133.4 N) thrust class turbojet.
- Range: >100 nmi (185.2 km)
- Loiter time: 30 min max.
- Guidance: GPS/INS with LADAR terminal seeker
- Warhead: 7.7 kg (17 lb) multi-mode explosively formed projectile (long rod penetrator, aerostable slug or fragmentationFragmentation (weaponry)Fragmentation is the process by which the casing of an artillery shell, bomb, grenade, etc. is shattered by the detonating high explosive filling. The correct technical terminology for these casing pieces is fragments , although shards or splinters can be used for non-preformed fragments...
)
See also
- Vertical Launch Autonomous Attack System (VLAAS)
- Surveilling Miniature Attack Cruise MissileSurveilling Miniature Attack Cruise MissileThe Surveilling Miniature Attack Cruise Missile is a long range, high endurance, expendable, unmanned aerial vehicle under development by Lockheed Martin...