MINNEAPOLIS, March 12 (UPI) -- The U.S. Army has issued a contract to develop a system using a 50mm canon to intercept incoming rockets, mortar and artillery rounds.
Bombardment has been a consistent threat to ground forces for generations, but the Army Armament Research, Development and Engineering Center is teaming up with Alliant Techsystems, or ATK, to develop a computerized system to shoot down projectiles in flight.
The two-year, $4.6 million contract announced by Minnesota-based ATK Monday is for the development of the ammunition and gun system that will be used in the Extended Area Protection and Survivability, or EAPS, program. EAPS is not unlike the Navy's venerable Phalanx, which is designed to detect and shoot down missiles moving at high speeds.
EAPS is also tasked with providing a defense against standoff unmanned aerial vehicles that are snooping, eavesdropping or equipped with a missile.
ATK plans to incorporate the latest technology into a Bushmaster cannon, the automatic gun currently used on Army Bradley Fighting Vehicles. The project involves adapting the weapon to fire a 50 mm round that incorporates a data uplink which communicates with the targeting system once it leaves the barrel, enabling the round to vary its course while in flight and intercept the incoming shell or rocket.
The project will culminate in a series of live-fire tests verifying the data-uplink capability.
