US Army receives 100,000 GPS-guided kits for 155mm artillery projectiles

News, US October 2, 2022 , by IRIA No Comments

American defense manufacturer Northrop Grumman surpassed the production of 100,000 Precision Guidance Kits (PGK) and delivered the GPS-guided kits for 155mm artillery projectiles to the U.S. Army.

PGK is a U.S. Army program that aims to replace standard fuzing for conventional projectiles and transform them into GPS-guided precision weapons. It uses GPS technology to guide 155-millimeter shells to a target and hit with high levels of accuracy.

Vice president for armament systems at Northrop Grumman, Dave Fine said that “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.”

“Throughout our 100,000 deliveries, we’ve maintained superior performance, surpassing the Army’s objectives for both accuracy and reliability,” Dave Fine added.

According to the Northrop Grumman release, the company added 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 statement also stressed that the company is 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,” the company’s statement added.

^{The Precision Guidance Kit (PGK) transforms conventional 155mm artillery projectiles by combining fuze functions and GPS guidance into one device that fits into standard fuze wells. (Image Credit: U.S. Army)}

Northrop Grumman is currently working to create PGK compatibility for the U.S. Army’s latest developments in extended-range cannon artillery systems and projectiles as well as the ability to operate in GPS-degraded conditions.

U.S. Army and Northrop Grumman are collaborating to apply new capabilities to improve existing weapons and defense systems and PGK is one of the examples of such collaboration. Northrop Grumman continues to develop additional technologies for the U.S. Army and aims to add precision to future long-range artillery systems.