Northrop Grumman Corp. won a development contract with the U.S. Navy for its newly designed 57mm guided high explosive ammunition.
These are designated for use with the Mk110 Naval Gun Mount and the company 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,” said Dave Fine, vice president of armament systems at Northrop Grumman. “The Navy will gain a greater capability to defend against moving threats and a new level of accuracy to defeat them.”
The 57mm round is the newest addition to Northrop Grumman’s advanced ammunition portfolio. It can continuously maneuver in-flight as it moves toward a designated target. It is designed to defend against fast-moving surface threats, drones and swarming threats, and has an on-board seeker to acquire moving targets. The ammunition also has a fuze that can self-select for proximity or point-detonation mode to best engage the intended target.
The company said by using seekers and an aft-maneuver system, the round provides continuous trajectory guidance no matter how often the target may pivot. This will give the Navy greater stand-off range and a cost-effective solution against small, fast-moving threats.
