Douglas Barrie/LONDON
THE US NAVY HAS ASKED McDonnell Douglas (MDC) to carry out captive flight-tests of the seeker from a Hughes AGM-65 Maverick air-to-ground missile as a prelude to including MDC's automatic-target-recognition (ATR) system in the SLAM ER (Enhanced Response) programme.
The US Navy wants to ensure that the imagery gained from the Maverick seeker, used on the SLAM ER, is adequate to allow the ATR system to be operated.
MDC is already including ATR in its Grand SLAM proposal to meet the Royal Air Force's requirement for a conventional stand-off missile, Staff Requirement (Air) 1236, using an advanced GEC-Marconi imaging infra-red seeker.
The ATR was not originally proposed as part of the SLAM ER programme, but the US Navy now appears keen to include it.
MDC has also offered the UK Ministry of Defence a range-extension option on its Grand SLAM bid. Its proposal meets the cardinal points specification requirement, thought to be more than 300km (160nm) and it is offering a 200km range improvement.
The range increase is being gained by offering the RAF both a datalink-equipped missile, for man-in-the-loop operations and an autonomous variant, with the datalink removed. The latter releases additional space for a fuel tank.
Source: Flight International