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.

An autonomous weapon system for improved guidance of a projectile for homing a target includes a guided projectile including at least one sensor and a carrier projectile and at least one guidance and reconnaissance unit including a transmitter for communication via light. The system uses emitted light for both positioning and communication of target coordinates which provides an accurate and cost effective system for combatting point and surface targets by indirect fire.

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.

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.

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.

An ordnance munition is included in an intelligent ordnance projectile delivery system and equipped with targeting and guidance systems that allow the ordnance munition to collaborate with other devices to intelligently select targets and/or to guide the ordnance munition to its selected target. The ordnance munition may be configured to generate first location information based on its determined approximate location, send the generated first location information to a wireless transceiver in proximity to the first ordnance munition, and receive location information from the wireless transceiver in response. The ordnance munition may determine its more precise location based on the received location information, and generating second location information based on the more precise location. The ordnance munition may change or adjust its flight path or trajectory based on the generated second location information.

Embodiments include engagement management systems and methods for managing engagement with aerial threats. Such systems include radar modules and detect aerial threats within a threat range of a base location. The systems also track intercept vehicles and control flight paths and detonation capabilities of the intercept vehicles. The systems are capable of communication between multiple engagement management systems and coordinated control of multiple intercept vehicles.

A moving object command link system includes a transmitter which outputs a EM beam and a steering mechanism which directs the beam toward one or more objects, at least one of which is moving. The system may include a variable attenuator which modulates the average output power of the beam, and/or a divergence controller to maintain a desired beam size. The beam may be polarized, and the system may include a polarization modulator which changes the beam's polarization in accordance with a predetermined sequence and schedule. The system may include a 1×2 switch to selectively provide the beam to one of first and second outputs. A tiltable dichroic beam splitter may be used to couple beams received from first and second objects to track cameras having respective boresights that are offset with respect to each other.

Embodiments include engagement management systems and methods for managing engagement with aerial threats. Such systems include radar modules and detect aerial threats within a threat range of a base location. The systems also track intercept vehicles and control flight paths and detonation capabilities of the intercept vehicles. The systems are capable of communication between multiple engagement management systems and coordinated control of multiple intercept vehicles.

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.