A projectile is disclosed, having: a longitudinal axis, a steering assembly, a shell body, an attitude control system, a despin module, an electromagnetic receiver and/or emitter system, and a controller. The attitude control system includes a ram air inlet in selective open fluid communication with an exhaust assembly, which includes a plurality of exhaust outlets to selectively generate each of a plurality of thrust jets from a ram air inflow provided by the ram air inlet, each thrust jet being selectively controllable via the controller. The despin module is configured for selectively de-spinning the steering assembly with respect to the shell body about the longitudinal axis. The electromagnetic receiver and/or emitter system is configured for receiving and/or emitting electromagnetic energy, and for cooperating with the controller for operating the exhaust assembly to thereby selectively provide steering control moments. Systems and methods for steering the projectile are also disclosed.

A spatially-distributed architecture (SDA) of antennas transmits respective uniquely coded signals. A first receiver having a known position in a coordinate system defined by the SDA receives reflected versions of the uniquely coded signals. A first processor receives the reflected versions of the uniquely coded signals and identifies a position of a non-cooperative object in the coordinate system. A platform with a platform receiver receives non-reflected versions of the uniquely coded signals. The platform determines a position of the platform in the coordinate system. In an example, the platform uses a self-determined position and a position of the non-cooperative object communicated from the SDA to navigate or guide the platform relative to the non-cooperative object. In another example, the platform uses a self-determined position and information from an alternative signal source in a second coordinate system to guide the platform. Guidance solutions may be generated in either coordinate system.

Embodiments include active protection systems and methods for an aerial platform. An onboard system includes radar modules, detects aerial vehicles within a threat range of the aerial platform, and determines if any of the aerial vehicles are an aerial threat. The onboard system also determines an intercept vector to the aerial threat, communicates the intercept vector to an eject vehicle, and causes the eject vehicle to be ejected from the aerial platform to intercept the aerial threat. The eject vehicle includes alignment thrusters to rotate a longitudinal axis of the eject vehicle to substantially align with the intercept vector, a rocket motor to accelerate the eject vehicle along an intercept vector, divert thrusters to divert the eject vehicle in a direction substantially perpendicular to the intercept vector, and attitude control thrusters to make adjustments to the attitude of the eject vehicle.

An integrated architecture and its associated sensors and processing software subsystems are defined and developed allowing a conventional unguided bullet to be transformed into a guided bullet without the use of an on-board inertial measurement unit (IMU). Some important SW components of the present disclosure include a target state estimator (TSE); a bullet state estimator (BSE); Multi-Object Tracking and Data Association; NTS GL; and a Data Link. Pre-conversion of two angles and range information of an OI sensor from spherical coordinates into Cartesian coordinates eliminates the Jacobian dependency in the H matrix for the BSE, thus increasing the miss distance performance accuracy of the bullet target engagement system.

A spatially-distributed architecture (SDA) of antennas transmits respective uniquely coded signals. A first receiver having a known position in a coordinate system defined by the SDA receives reflected versions of the uniquely coded signals. A first processor receives the reflected versions of the uniquely coded signals and identifies a position of a non-cooperative object in the coordinate system. A platform with a platform receiver receives non-reflected versions of the uniquely coded signals. The platform determines a position of the platform in the coordinate system. In an example, the platform uses a self-determined position and a position of the non-cooperative object communicated from the SDA to navigate or guide the platform relative to the non-cooperative object. In another example, the platform uses a self-determined position and information from an alternative signal source in a second coordinate system to guide the platform. Guidance solutions may be generated in either coordinate system.

A device for detecting and/or tracking a projectile has a receiving antenna, for receiving at least an electromagnetic signal emitted by at least one radar, at least one amplifier configured to amplify the electromagnetic signal received by the receiving antenna, and at least one emitting antenna. The emitting antenna is configured to return, at an output of the device, an amplified electromagnetic signal for calculating data indicative of the trajectory of the projectile based at least on the amplified electromagnetic signal. A system for detecting a projectile has a transmitting device mounted on the projectile, a radar configured to sense an electromagnetic signal produced and sent by the transmitting device. The signals emitted from the projectile are limited to the electromagnetic signal sent by the transmitting device, and a processing unit, configured to calculate data indicative of the trajectory of the projectile, based on the sensing of the electromagnetic signal.

A method is provided for calculating the bursting point of at least one projectile fired at a target object, involving measuring the position of the projectile, estimating the position of the projectile, estimating the speed of the projectile, measuring the position of the target object, estimating the position of the target object, estimating the speed of the target object, calculating optimal bursting points for the projectile based on the estimated position of the projectile, the estimated speed of the projectile, the estimated position of the target object and the estimated speed of the target object, and communicating the bursting points for the projectile to the projectile. A computer program, a computer system, and a weapons system are also provided.

A projectile delivery module to be mounted on an aerial vehicle includes a projectile delivery system including a kinetic projectile and a base system. The kinetic projectile includes a projectile body, an RF receiver, and an onboard steering system including: a steering mechanism operable to change an attitude, orientation, and/or direction of flight of the kinetic projectile; and a steering actuator. The base system includes: an RF transmitter to communicate with the RF receiver; a projectile holder; a target tracking system; and a projectile guidance system including a projectile tracking system and a projectile control system. The base system is configured to: release the kinetic projectile from the projectile holder such that the kinetic projectile is driven toward a target by gravity; track the target using the target tracking system; track the released kinetic projectile using the projectile tracking system; and automatically control the onboard steering system using the projectile control system to adjust a trajectory of the falling kinetic projectile to steer the kinetic projectile to the target.

Embodiments include active protection systems and methods for an aerial platform. An onboard system includes radar modules, detects aerial vehicles within a threat range of the aerial platform, and determines if any of the aerial vehicles are an aerial threat. The onboard system also determines an intercept vector to the aerial threat, communicates the intercept vector to an eject vehicle, and causes the eject vehicle to be ejected from the aerial platform to intercept the aerial threat. The eject vehicle includes alignment thrusters to rotate a longitudinal axis of the eject vehicle to substantially align with the intercept vector, a rocket motor to accelerate the eject vehicle along an intercept vector, divert thrusters to divert the eject vehicle in a direction substantially perpendicular to the intercept vector, and attitude control thrusters to make adjustments to the attitude of the eject vehicle.

Upon loss of a valid track of a remotely-sensed command guided vehicle, a delta actuator command including an orthogonal component orthogonal to the straight-line path is generated as a next sample of a time-based alternating signal. The time-based delta actuator command is added to the nominal actuator command, which is held upon loss of valid track, to maneuver the vehicle in first and second orthogonal directions back and forth across the straight-line path to increase an area of vehicle motion relative to the tracker's FOV. This increases the likelihood of recapture of the vehicle given vehicle motion after track is broken. The penalty is a reduction in energy efficiency. In certain embodiments, this is accomplished without modification to guidance system hardware or the existing tracking valid or invalid guidance algorithms.