Navy to upgrade 25-millimeter shipboard machine guns with electro-optical sensors and laser range finders
March 4, 2011
The Mk 38 Mod 2 machine gun system -- a joint project of BAE Systems and Rafael Advanced Defense Systems Ltd. in Haifa, Israel -- is for shipboard defense against small, fast, and agile surface threats in all sea states.
The Mk 38 Mod 2 main weapon is the M242 Bushmaster 25-mm Chain Gun with a range of 1.5 miles, and rates of fire as fast as 180 rounds per minute. The weapon can be remotely operated from the combat information center or in other protected ship structure.
BAE Systems will do work on the contract in Hafia, Israel, and Louisville, Ky., and should be finished by March 2012. Awarding the contract were officials of the Naval Surface Warfare Center in Indian Head, Md.
For more information contact BAE Systems Land and Armaments online at www.baesystems.com/Businesses/LandArmaments, Rafael Advanced Defense Systems Ltd. at www.rafael.co.il, or the Naval Surface Warfare Center Indian Head at www.navsea.navy.mil/nswc/indianhead.
John Keller is editor-in-chief of Military & Aerospace Electronics magazine, which provides extensive coverage and analysis of enabling electronic and optoelectronic technologies in military, space, and commercial aviation applications. A member of the Military & Aerospace Electronics staff since the magazine's founding in 1989, Mr. Keller took over as chief editor in 1995.
