May 28 (UPI) -- L3 Mustang Technology was awarded a $9.2 million contract for long-lead material to support 57mm MK 332 High Explosive-4 Bolt Guided Cartridge ammunition for the U.S. Navy's ships.
Work will be performed at the company's plant in Plano, Texas, and is expected to be completed by October, the U.S. Department of Defense announced Friday. Mustang Technology Group is owned by L3 and is part of its Precision Engagement Systems section.
The HE-4G is a 57mm electrically-primed bolt cartridge designed to function in the 57mm MK 110 GM, and is intended for combating surface and air targets on the Navy's littoral combat ships and new fast frigate, as well as the U.S. Coast Guard's National Security and Offshore Patrol cutters.
The fixed cartridge consists of a radio frequency guided projectile, brass cartridge case and energetics qualified for Navy use. The projectile is composed of a guidance section, an advanced divert module with a fuse safe and arm, and a warhead.
L3 Mustang's Advanced Low Cost Munitions Ordnance, or ALaMO, program has been successfully testing the ammunition at the U.S. Navy's Potomac River Test Range in Dahlgren, Via. In tests, it hit a moving surface target at significantly longer ranges than possible with unguided projectiles.
"This improved accuracy allows for a significant reduction in cost and adds depth to the ship's magazine by requiring fewer rounds per target," according to a company news release.
Naval and Marine Corps fiscal 2019 procurement of ammunition funding in the full amount will be obligated at time of award and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year.
