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Izrelci imaju novu navodjenu glavu
Citat:Israeli defense contractor Rafael is working on an add-on upgrade package, known as the Electro-Optical Precision Integration Kit, or EPIK, that could turn any Soviet-standard 122mm Grad artillery rocket into a precision-guided round capable of hitting stationary or moving targets. The company says that it hopes to further develop the system to work with other unguided surface-to-surface weapons, potentially offering a relatively simple and low-cost way for military forces around the world to significantly expand their longer-range precision fire support capabilities.
Jane’s 360 was first to report on the EPIK development earlier in May 2018. Rafael said it had waited until it reached the technology demonstration phase of the program, which came after the test firing of multiple experimental rockets equipped with the guidance system, to disclose the project. The Israeli government-owned company did not say if it had any prospective customers lined up already or when it expected the first production rounds would be available.
“A considerable number of ground forces have unguided surface-to-surface rockets in their inventories – these have a high circular error probable – meaning they don’t hit the target precisely, they hit around it,” Gal Papier, the head of Marketing and Business Development for Rafael Advanced Defense Systems’ Precision Tactical Weapons Systems division, told Jane’s. “Consequently, over the past two years we’ve leveraged that technology to inform development of the EPIK concept to address growing demands from ground forces for a solution that can engage autonomously, in multiple areas and hit multiple targets, with precision, simultaneously.”
EPIK consists of a multi-mode sensor package and moving control surfaces that attach to the front of the rocket. It has infrared and laser sensors and an inertial navigation system (INS) with embedded GPS, which allows the round to engage a wide variety of targets, including moving vehicles.
Rafael did not specifically say whether or not the complete weapon system had a man-in-the-loop targeting capability, but it is a possibility. The guidance system is a derivative of the systems the company developed for SPICE – standing for Smart, Precise Impact, Cost-Effective – a family of precision-guided aerial bombs, which has this capability.
Man-in-the-loop type systems are also increasingly a hallmark of Israeli precision-guided munitions in general. What this means is that an actual person can maneuver the round in its terminal phase of flight, helping to improve accuracy to an extreme degree. This also provides opportunities to engage enemy forces that are trying to relocate as the rocket is hurtling toward the target area or shift the point of impact to avoid innocent civilians or other collateral damage that might only become apparent at the last moment.
However, the need for a two-way data link could easily limit how far away an EPIK-equipped rocket might be able to make use of this capability. A 122mm round might be moving too fast to effectively make use of it at all, too.
The INS can either help direct the weapon to the general target area or engage specific stationary targets in a fire-and-forget mode. According to Rafael, the guidance package has scene-matching and signal-processing capabilities that could allow a rocket with EPIK to autonomously zero in on specific areas of interest, too.
Especially notable, Papier stressed to Jane’s that the GPS component of the guidance system is a backup only, with the other sensors and INS acting as the primary means of directing the rocket. Combined with the man-in-the-loop capability, this could make EPIK effective even in a GPS-denied environment, which an increasingly realistic possibility on modern battlefields.
It’s not clear whether EPIK requires any modification to the rocket’s warhead or if it will only work with certain types. Papier implied that it required minimum effort to add the kit onto existing rounds and said that simplicity would make it a relatively easy proposition to integrate the system onto almost any other artillery rocket system.
“We’ve now completed risk mitigation of the process of installing the add-on kit on a rocket – primarily with the 122mm Grad surface-to-surface rocket,” he explained. “We can add EPIK to any caliber of unguided surface-to-surface effector [weapon system] that has a motor and warhead.”
http://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/21023/israeli.....on-weapons
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