Lockheed Martin provided the U.S. Army with the modernized day sensor assembly (M-DSA) upgrade models for exercising on the Apache attack helicopter.
In order to improve and develop the Apache’s day sensor assembly, five system design and development (SDD) laser rangefinder designators (LRFDs) were recently presented to the Army under a contract of three years, granted to Lockheed Martin in September 2008.
The LRFD serves Apache by supporting the target and by facilitating a precise pointing of the weapon to the target. The LRFD identifies the point of target with a laser spot for HELLFIRE II missile. Moreover, the M-DSA LRFD supplements eye-safe lasers intended for protected training.
The first period of upgrades is being implemented to reduce extinction and increase the performance of the system, thereby enhancing the capability of Modernized Target Acquisition Designation Sight/Pilot Night Vision Sensor (M-TADS/PNVS) system to include the entire future weapons.
A second phase is intended to develop the laser spot tracker, visible color sensor, and day sensor structure assembly, inertial measurement unit supplemented with laser pointer or marker compatibility. This challenge accomplished a successful critical design review in its SDD contract, of late.
Lockheed Martin, a worldwide security company has its head office at Bethesda, Maryland. It has about 126,000 workers globally and exercises mainly in design, research, manufacture, development, maintenance and integration of advanced technology systems, services and products.
Source: http://www.lockheedmartin.com/