Navy to upgrade 25-millimeter shipboard machine guns with electro-optical sensors and laser range finders
March 4, 2011
INDIAN HEAD, Md., 4 March 2011. The U.S. Navy is asking the BAE Systems Land and Armament segment in Louisville, Ky., to upgrade as many as 150 MK 38 shipboard 25-millimeter machine guns with remote-control capability, two-axis stabilization, on-mount day/night electro-optical sensors, and eye-safe laser range finder. BAE Land and Armaments will provide as many as 150 MK 38 Mod 2 machine gun system ordnance alteration (ORDALT) kits under terms of a $33.9 million contract announced Thursday.
INDIAN HEAD, Md., 4 March 2011. The U.S. Navy is asking the BAE Systems Land and Armament segment in Louisville, Ky., to upgrade as many as 150 MK 38 shipboard 25-millimeter machine guns with remote-control capability, two-axis stabilization, on-mount day/night electro-optical sensors, and eye-safe laser range finder.BAE Land and Armaments will provide as many as 150 MK 38 Mod 2 machine gun system ordnance alteration (ORDALT) kits under terms of a $33.9 million contract announced Thursday. These upgrade kits have two-axis stabilization with remote control capability, and an on-mount day/night electro-optical suite with eye-safe laser range finder.The day/night electro-optical suite features the Toplite III electro-optical fire-control system, which has as many as four sensors for day and night, passive and active detection and recognition of targets at sea, on land, and in the air. It uses a 640-by-480-pixel array thermal imager, as well as a CCD low-light TV camera, eye-safe laser range finder, and optional night vision imaging system and laser target illuminator.
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.
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.
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