In certain embodiments, an imaging system includes an enclosure with an objective aperture opening into an interior space of the enclosure, an optical assembly optically coupling the objective aperture to an imaging sensor within the enclosure, a shutter mounted to the objective aperture for selectively blocking and admitting illumination through the objective aperture into the interior space, and an illuminator mounted to illuminate the interior space of the enclosure.

An optics system includes a convex catching mirror located within respect to the concave primary mirror to form an optical path for a field of view. A conical volume is formed with respect to the concave primary mirror and the convex catching mirror, the optical path not obstructed by the conical volume. A component within the conical volume.

A method includes removably coupling a projectile interface of a dongle to a dongle interface of a projectile. The method also includes loading a dongle code from the dongle onto the projectile. The dongle code identifies a pulse repetition frequency (PRF) code to be recognized by the projectile. The dongle code may be unique to an operator of the projectile. The method may further include, prior to loading the dongle code onto the projectile, loading an operator code onto the projectile, where the dongle code is loaded onto the projectile in response to the projectile authorizing the operator code. There may be a limited number of uses of the dongle code with different projectiles, and/or there may be a limited amount of time for using the dongle code. A companion electronic device may be used to authenticate the dongle.

A Semi-Active Laser sensor for determining a line-of-site to a target includes: a receiver for receiving a plurality of target pulses; a processor for starting a target track for pulses that cross a noise threshold opening a pulse gate within the target track; and for every laser pulse received within the pulse gate crossing the noise threshold, determining a time index relative to the pulse gate center; and a memory for storing the pulses that cross the noise threshold and their respective time index, wherein the processor further temporally offsets the stored pulses based on their corresponding time indexes, sums the offset pulses together to generate a summed pulse signal, and determines the line-of-sight error to the target from the summed pulse signal.

A system and method for measurement and correction of aero-optical and aero-thermal effects to an EO/IR sensor's window/dome on a supersonic flight-vehicle. Range-gating of laser pulses measures and separates aerodynamic and atmospheric effects. Separate control algorithms and control loops at different update rates both simplifies the control algorithms and improves overall performance. The use of a MEMS MMA having tip/tilt/piston capabilities as the deformable mirror to provide wavefront correction enhances overall performance. The corrected laser pulses may also be used to actively illuminate a target to provide both active and passive detection.

The present invention relates to a glide bomb and methods of use thereof for use with an unmanned or manned aerial vehicle or for operative deployment. In one form, the glide bomb is configured to be carried and released by an unmanned aerial vehicle (“UAV”) for flight towards a selected target. The glide bomb includes an elongate body having a nose and an opposed tail aligned along a longitudinal axis; a payload; a pair of wings extendable from opposed sides of the body for producing lift, said wings configured to be selectively moveable between a retracted position and an extended position; and two or more tail control surfaces operatively associated with the tail of the body for at least pitch and yaw control.

Systems and methods for deploying smart munitions may provide targeting metadata generated by surveillance networks to munitions deployment and guidance systems for smart munitions. Targeting metadata may be received by a conduit system and automatically processed to generate guidance and deployment data actionable by a munitions deployment platform.

An aerodynamic nose cone capable of imaging through the nose cone is accomplished by forming the nose cone as an Afocal Axicon lens. Under a condition of RI≈cos(X)/cos(3X) where RI is an effective refractive index and X is a cone half angle of the solid right-circular cone. EMR incident on a front portion of the cone undergoes a total internal reflection (TIR) and exits a trailing surface of the cone with approximately the same parallelism with which it entered the cone. EMR incident behind the front portion of the cone that exits the trailing surface with different parallelism than it entered may be directed to a light dump or through a frustum of a cone to re-establish the correct parallelism. The entire optical system may be monolithically integrated into the nose cone to eliminate alignment issues and moving parts.

An optical sensor uses a MEMS MMA to scan a narrow laser beam over a transmit FOR to provide active illumination and to correct the beam profile (e.g., collimate the beam, reduce chromatic aberrations, correct the beam profile or wavefront). A staring detector senses light within a receive FOR that at least partially overlaps the transmit FOR. By completely eliminating the dual-axis gimbal, this sensor architecture greatly reduces the volume and weight of the optical sensor while avoiding the deficiencies of known systems associated with either fiber or free-space coupling of the laser beam into an existing receiver.

A guidance system for a missile performs a method for guiding the missile. The guidance system includes a target detector and a window between a target and the target detector. The window including a first pane, a second pane and a channel between the first pane from the second pane. Radiation from the target passes through the window including the first pane, the second pane and the channel to be detected at the target detector. A gas is transported through the channel between the first pane and the second pane to control a temperature of the window.