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Northrop Grumman Corporation announced that it has surpassed the production and delivery of more than 100,000 Precision Guidance Kits (PGK) for 155mm artillery projectiles. A U.S. Army program, PGK replaces standard fuzing for conventional projectiles currently in inventory, transforming them into GPS-guided, precision weapons.
A U.S. Army program, Northrop Grumman’s innovative PGK combines GPS guidance and fuze functions for conventional artillery all-in-one device that provides conventional artillery projectiles the ability to consistently outperform the Army’s program objective for accuracy. (Credit: Northrop Grumman)
“PGK’s precision provides a critical capability to artillery units, enabling forces to rapidly achieve mission success by reducing the number of rounds required to defeat targets,” said Dave Fine, vice president for armament systems, Northrop Grumman. “Throughout our 100,000 deliveries, we’ve maintained superior performance, surpassing the Army’s objectives for both accuracy and reliability.”
Recently, the company incorporated user feedback to add a built-in, selectable, safety feature that prevents detonation if the PGK predicts the projectile will exceed the selected miss distance while in flight. The company is also nearing completion of the necessary qualification events to implement GPS M-Code, which will allow PGK to defend against existing and emerging threats to GPS, such as jamming.
Once implemented, PGK will be one of the largest production programs within the U.S. Department of Defense to integrate this crucial capability that allows authorized users to acquire two signals from GPS satellites to achieve superior positioning accuracy.
Northrop Grumman continues to advance PGK technology to meet the Army’s future needs. These investments include creating PGK compatibility for the Army’s latest developments in extended range cannon artillery systems and projectiles as well as the ability to operate in GPS-degraded conditions.
Northrop Grumman is a technology company, focused on global security and human discovery. Our pioneering solutions equip our customers with capabilities they need to connect, advance and protect the U.S. and its allies. Driven by a shared purpose to solve our customers’ toughest problems, our 90,000 employees define possible every day.
