Provided is an apparatus for detecting airborne objects comprising a kill vehicle bus having a radar sensor. The radar sensor may be an interferometric sensor comprising a plurality of transmit-receive arrays. Each of the transmit-receive arrays may be adapted to be stowed in a stowed position in or on the kill vehicle bus, and may be adapted to be expandable from the stowed position to an operable position.

An optical radiation-collecting assembly includes a convex mirror, a concave mirror with a central opening and a window, arranged such that light passes through the opening in the concave mirror, is reflected first by the convex mirror and then by the concave mirror, and subsequently passes through the window. The optical assembly is suitable for use in a homing device for guiding a rocket, preventing an optical input component of such a device from being damaged and rendered inoperative from abrasion when exposed to a high-speed air flow containing dense particles. The optical assembly also includes an image-forming function.

A technique is presented for tracking a target illuminated by a laser designator. A light beam scattered from the target in response to illumination by the designator is received and projected on a detector as an unfocused spot. The detector is divided into a plurality of sectors, each sector being adjacent to two sectors and all sectors meeting at a common point. Each sector outputs a signal indicative of a respective energy of the portion of the light beam illuminating the sector of the detector. A sum of the signals is determined. A plurality of ratios is determined, each ratio corresponding to a respective sector and being calculated by dividing a signal from the respective sector by the sum of the signals. The orientation of the system with respect to the target is determined based on the three ratios, via a look-up table and/or via one or more algorithms.

A method and a device for assisting aiming at a target, in particular for the purpose of improving the accuracy with which a projectile is guided towards said target by means of a laser beam. The method makes use of a camera serving to capture either a complete image of the environment, or else a selective image of said target in said environment. Thereafter, the method makes it possible to verify that said laser beam is indeed pointing at said target by displaying the point of contact of said laser beam in said environment on the image captured by said camera, and then to determine the accuracy with which said laser beam is indeed pointing at said target. As a function of said accuracy, launching of said projectile may either be confirmed or cancelled. This method also makes it possible to identify the code of said guide beam illuminating said target.

A battlefield weapon system is proposed to counter the threat posed by small drones. The main system element is an aerodynamically guided missile that is compatible with existing multipurpose shoulder launched weapon systems. The system is fully portable for dispersed deployment among infantry.

A predictive semi-active laser (SAL) pulse correlator includes a history buffer, a correlation predictor, a match identifier and a correlation verifier. The history buffer is configured to store an indicator for each of a plurality of received pulses. The correlation predictor is configured to initiate a search of the history buffer for a pulse train match for a future interval and to predict correlation for the future interval when the pulse train match is found. The match identifier is configured to search the history buffer for a specified number of pulse matches corresponding to the pulse train match. The correlation verifier is configured to verify correlation by receiving a pulse during the future interval when the correlation predictor predicts correlation for the future interval.

A method for aligning a missile with a target in a laser beam riding missile guidance system, the system including a laser transmitter for generating and projecting a laser information field towards the target and an optical sight for aiming the laser beam towards the target, the method comprising: determining a point in the laser information field with which the missile is currently aligned; determining a distance of the target from the missile; determining an angular displacement between the missile's current direction of travel and the direction in which the target lies from the missile; determining, based on said distance and angular displacement, a new point in the laser information field with which the missile should be aligned to reach the target; and controlling missile guidance systems on board the missile to bring the missile into alignment with the new point in the laser information field.

The system and method of projectile flight management using a combination of radio frequency orthogonal interferometry for the long range navigation and guidance of one or more projectiles and a short range navigation and guidance system to provide for more accurate targeting, especially in GPS-denied and GPS-limited environments.

A guidance assembly and method for guiding an ordnance to a target. The assembly can operated in navigation and targeting modes and has an imager/seeker including an objective lens assembly and an imaging sensor array which provide image data for mapping and terminal seeker performance. The imager/seeker is pivotally mounted on the ordnance. An actuator is coupled to the imager/seeker and can be actuated to pivot the imager/seeker relative to a longitudinal axis of the ordnance from a navigation position to a targeting position. A flight control unit communicates with the imager/seeker and the actuator, and has a processor which analyses the image data to provide navigation flight control signals for guiding the ordnance in the navigation mode of operation and determining a target direction via automatic target recognition or aimpoint algorithms for directing the ordnance to the target in the targeting mode of operation.

A system comprises a photodetector array (PDA) including a plurality of imaging pixels configured to generate electrical signals indicative of an imaged scene, and an integrated circuit (IC) operatively connected to the PDA to receive the electrical signals from the imaging pixels to form image data.