Honeywell is continuing to develop its MEMS (Micro ElectroMechanical Systems) for precision-guided munitions.
It is a main supplier on Raytheon’s Excalibur programme for the US Army – the first use of MEMS for field use.
Ed Wheeler, Honeywell’s president of defence and space, says: ”We think that MEMS will do for artillery what precision-guided munitions did for the air force – it is truly revolutionary.
“The benefits of this technology are most vividly demonstrated with the successful deployment of advanced guided weapons through the Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM), a guidance kit that converts existing unguided free-fall bombs into accurately guided ‘smart’ bombs.”
The difficulty with transferring the technology to munitions has been the incredibly high G forces encountered in artillery shells.
Source: Flight Daily News
