Though the United States Navy doesn’t seem to have a great deal of confidence in its Littoral Combat Ships (LCS), the service officially contracted Northrop Grumman to develop a guided high explosive naval artillery shell that can be employed on the vessel’s Naval Mk 110 guns. Under the terms of the award, the company will test and mature the munition for qualification.
According to Northrop Grumman, the 57mm guided high explosive ammunition could have the unique ability to continuously maneuver in-flight as it moves toward a designated target. It was designed to defend against fast-moving surface threats, drones, and swarming threats, while the guided 57mm ammunition features an on-board seeker to acquire moving targets and a fuse with the ability to self-select for either proximity or point-detonation mode to best engage and defeat the intended target.
“Our new 57mm guided ammunition is truly innovative in its ability to identify, track and guide itself to a target,” said Dave Fine, vice president of armament systems at Northrop Grumman. “The Navy will gain a greater capability to defend against moving threats and a new level of accuracy to defeat them.”
The 57mm guided high explosive round will also employ seekers and an aft-maneuver system, which will enable the round to maintain continuous trajectory guidance no matter how often the target may pivot. The new guided ordnance will further provide the United States Navy with greater stand-off range and a cost-effective solution against small, fast-moving threats, without any weapon system modifications.
The Swedish-Designed Naval Gun
The Mk 110 Gun Mount has been the standard armament of the United States Coast Guard (USCG) cutters and the United States Navy’s LCS. It was first developed in the 1970s and could be utilized to engage surface, air and missile targets – while the current version of the 57mm gun was designed in 1995, and was introduced into service with the Swedish Navy’s Visby-class corvette more than two decades ago.
It is produced in the United States at the BAE Systems facility in Louisville, Kentucky, and the multi-purpose, medium caliber gun can fire salvos at up to 220 rounds per minute, with a range of nine miles.
Smarter Ordnance
The guided high explosive ordnance is the newest addition to Northrop Grumman’s advanced ammunition portfolio, and the 57mm round leverages the company’s expertise in guided munitions, which include the U.S. Army’s M1156 Precision Guidance Kit, which can turn existing 155mm artillery shells into smart weapons. Equipped with a global positioning system (GPS), it artillery shell has an accuracy range of up to 31 miles (50 km) with a margin of error of around 32.8 feet (10 meters).
Essentially the 57mm guided ordnance is a smaller caliber naval equivalent but has the potential to be just as deadly and accurate. It has also been noted that while the U.S. Navy’s guided missile cruisers and destroyers can strike targets with deadly precision, and the days of massive naval bombardments are largely a thing of the past, there is still a role for such weapons – especially as missiles tend to be quite expensive.
Expendable smart ammunition from surface ships could fill the void, especially for defensive purposes. That could include countering seaborne attacks from small watercraft – such as those employed by nations like Iran – as well as from aerial threats including drones, missiles, and small aircraft.
It has the potential to enhance the LCS’s capabilities a bit in the process.
