BAE Systems

February 8, 2007 The advent of precision guided munitions has completely changed the battlefield inside a few decades. Once bombs were dropped in vast numbers, as each one had a small probability of hitting its target. Then computers and advanced guidance entered the fray, and bombs became deadly accurate. Now the artillery section is getting in on the act. We reported last July that BAE had received a contract to participate in a competitive technical development program of a Precision Guidance Kit for use with Army cannon artillery ammunition which makes conventional cannon projectiles at least three times more accurate. Now the system is in testing and last month 21 155 mm projectiles were successfully fired equipped with the Precision Guidance Kit (PGK) test modules.  Read More

January 6, 2007 Yet another potent UAV is in the development phase, this one for the UK Ministry of Defence to be constructed by a team headed by BAE Systems, together with Rolls-Royce, Smiths Aerospace and QinetiQ, plus MoD military staff and scientists. The four year project to develop a world-class UAV (Unmanned Air Vehicle) Technology Demonstrator Programme called Taranis. Ground testing of the UKP124 million Taranis project is expected to take place in early 2009 with the first flight trials taking place in 2010. Named after the Celtic God of Thunder, Taranis will be an unmanned fast jet demonstrator the size of a Hawk trainer - making it one of the world's largest UAVs - that will be stealthy, fast and be able to test deploy a range of munitions over a number of targets and be able to defend itself against manned and other unmanned enemy aircraft.  Read More

September 30, 2006 The world got its first look at the Future Combat Systems (FCS) Non-Line-of-Sight (NLOS) Cannon Firing Platform last week. The NLOS Cannon is the lead Manned Ground Vehicle (MGV) of the U.S. Army's foremost modernization program - an integrated family of air systems and both manned and unmanned ground systems connected by a robust network. The 155-mm Firing Platform is the first step toward development of NLOS Cannon prototypes scheduled to begin testing in 2008. The NLOS Cannon Firing Platform features a 38-caliber length, fully automated 155-mm howitzer, and will soon be shipped to Army test facilities, where it will begin qualification of its ultra-lightweight cannon and breech. The Firing Platform will undergo testing through 2008. Test data from these tests will support obtaining a safety release, which will allow soldiers to begin testing the NLOS Cannon prototypes.  Read More

April 14, 2006 BAE Systems' entry in the Army's Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System II (APKWS II) competition has successfully completed environmental tests that validate the weapon's ability to withstand battlefield conditions. Coupled with successful flight tests last year, these results demonstrate the maturity of BAE Systems' APKWS II offering. APKWS II will provide a low-cost, lightweight guided weapon that is effective against soft and lightly armored targets to fill the gap between the 70mm rocket and the Hellfire missile. The system will be used on all Army aircraft currently using the 70mm rocket. The BAE Systems/General Dynamics team is competing with Raytheon and Lockheed Martin to provide a new 2.75-inch guided rocket that will enable U.S. Army Apache and U.S. Marine Corps Cobra attack helicopters and other platforms to precisely engage non-armored targets with minimal collateral damage. The government is expected to announce the winner later this month.  Read More

March 4, 2006 BAE Systems recently demonstrated its vertical takeoff and landing unmanned aerial system (UAS) at Fort Benning, Ga., for Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and U.S. Army representatives. The unmanned system is designed to fly for more than one hour, and deploy a signals intelligence (SIGINT) payload, known as "WolfPack." As part of DARPA's Network Centric Experiment VIP Demonstration in January, BAE Systems integrated WolfPack with its UAS to demonstrate the deployment and relocation of the sensors.  Read More

September 7, 2005 BAE Systems has achieved its first autonomous, untethered flight of its third-generation ducted-fan unmanned aerial vehicle. The company's vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) air vehicle completed a course of 10 waypoints at BAE Systems' Southern California flight test facility. The seven-minute flight of the IAV2 ducted-fan air vehicle demonstrated a pre-programmed flight plan that included automatic takeoff, waypoint navigation with multiple groundspeeds and altitudes, and loitering and automatic landing. The demonstration flight was achieved just 10 days after the air vehicle's first flight and was the 14th flight of the IAV2. Flights were conducted at temperatures of up to 109 degrees, equating to density altitudes approaching 7,000 feet, in winds of nearly 15 knots.  Read More

UPDATED August 28, 2005 NEW IMAGES It’s smaller than the smallest car and it may look harmless and cute but pray you never get on the wrong side of the aptly named Gladiator – last week Carnegie Mellon University and BAE Systems North America (formerly United Defense Industries) gave the world its first glimpse of the battlefield future when it held the first public demonstration of Gladiator, the first tactical unmanned ground vehicle (UGV) being developed for the U.S. Marine Corps, demonstrating what the combat UGV might look and act like. It is anticipated that the Gladiator will be deployed for a wide range of dangerous situations where it can do the same job as a soldier without risking a life – things like carrying out search-and-discovery missions in hostile areas, urban battlefields, mine fields, or when there is a high possibility of chemical or biological weapons being used. The Gladiator is also capable of bearing arms so it can eliminate threats when necessary.  Read More