Northrop Grumman [NOC] on Wednesday said it won a development contract for its 57mm guided high explosive ammunition, set to be used on the future Constellation
-class frigate.
The contract was awarded in May at the value of $34 million.
The company’s guided ammunition is designated to be used with the BAE Systems’ Mk110 57mm Naval Gun Mount, which is currently used on Littoral Combat Ships and Coast Guard cutters but is also planned to be used on the new frigates.
Company spokesman Jarrod Krull told Defense Daily that while the ammunition can be fired from any platform that uses the Mk1100, like LCS and Coast Guard Cutters, it is specifically being developed to support the frigates.
Northrop Grumman said this ammunition can continuously maneuver via an aft-maneuver system in-flight as it moves towards a target and is also designed to defend against fast moving surface, drone and swarming threats.
It has an on-board seeker “to acquire moving targets and a fuze with the ability to self-select for either proximity or point-detonation mode to best engage and defeat the intended target.”
Krull also said while the company will not detail the weapon’s specific maneuver capacity, it can autonomously and continuously maneuver “over the entire trajectory of flight.”
Northrop Grumman said under the contract it will test and mature the munition for qualification.
“Our new 57mm guided ammunition is truly innovative in its ability to identify, track and guide itself to a target. The Navy will gain a greater capability to defend against moving threats and a new level of accuracy to defeat them,” Dave Fine, vice president for armament systems at Northrop Grumman, said in a statement.
The company argued it is leveraging its expertise in guided ammunition products like via the Precision Guidance Kit.
It also underscored that this ammunition gives the Navy a larger stand-off range that is also a “cost-effective solution against small, fast-moving threats without having to modify existing weapon systems.
Previously, in 2015 BAE systems unveiled the design of a similar guided projectile that could be fired from the MK 110 naval gun, called the Ordnance for Rapid Kill of Attack Craft Mk295 Mod 1 guided projectile, or ORKA (Defense Daily, April 17, 2015).
That weapon has a maximum range of about 10 kilometers and the company expected the MK 110 could deliver up to 220 rounds per minute.