Orbital ATK Granted U.S. Patent for Helicopter Active Protection System
December 10 2015 - 8:30AM
Business Wire
Kill Vehicle Intercepts and Detonates to
Destroy Threats to Low Flying Aircraft
Orbital ATK (NYSE: OA), a global leader in aerospace and defense
technologies, announced it was granted a patent by the United
States Patent and Trademark Office for the Helicopter Active
Protection System (HAPS), a system to protect helicopters against
airborne threats. This represents the first patent awarded to
Orbital ATK for its development of methods and systems of active
protection from aerial threats by dispensing a kill vehicle from
either aerial or ground platforms.
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Orbital ATK's Helicopter Active
Protection System (HAPS) Kill Vehicle (Photo: Business Wire)
The kill vehicle is the key component in HAPS. Orbital ATK
recently performed a live-fire demonstration validating the basis
of the invention including the performance of its kill vehicle’s
ability to launch, perform pitch maneuvers and fly to a detonation
point that simulated the location of an incoming rocket-propelled
grenade (RPG).
“Orbital ATK is dedicated to maturing the development of this
first-of-a-kind active protection system for helicopters and to put
it into the hands of our armed forces,” said Cary Ralston, Vice
President and General Manager of Orbital ATK’s Defense Electronic
Systems division of the Defense Systems Group. “Using advanced
technologies to help protect our armed forces is a key focus for
our company and our innovative design will fill a critical gap in
technology, addressing a real problem.”
This newly-patented innovation has a direct benefit to
helicopters and their crew members. Helicopters are vulnerable to
damage from RPGs because the aircraft often hovers in position at
low altitude, making it easy to target by an enemy on the ground.
Orbital ATK’s HAPS system is designed to identify an incoming
threat, launch and guide a kill vehicle to a precise location and
detonate a warhead at a point where the RPG is rendered
ineffective. All of this is designed to occur within a fraction of
a second and far enough away from the helicopter to ensure the crew
and aircraft are not harmed by fragments from the destroyed RPG.
The system also serves as a last line of defense against advanced
man-portable air-defense systems, or MANPADS.
Orbital ATK’s aircraft survivability product portfolio includes
the AAR-47 missile, laser and hostile-fire threat warning sensor
and the ShotFinder acoustic hostile-fire detection system. The
AAR-47 missile warning system is installed on more than 3,200 fixed
and rotary-wing aircraft and is flown by the U.S. and its allies in
more than 16 countries.
Orbital ATK’s Defense Systems Group is an industry leader in
providing innovative and affordable precision and strike weapons,
advanced propulsion and hypersonics, missile components across
air-, sea- and land-based systems, ammunition and related energetic
products.
About Orbital ATK
Orbital ATK is a global leader in aerospace and defense
technologies. The company designs, builds and delivers space,
defense and aviation systems for customers around the world, both
as a prime contractor and merchant supplier. Its main products
include launch vehicles and related propulsion systems; missile
products, subsystems and defense electronics; precision weapons,
armament systems and ammunition; satellites and associated space
components and services; and advanced aerospace structures.
Headquartered in Dulles, Virginia, Orbital ATK employs
approximately 12,000 people in 18 states across the U.S. and in
several international locations. For more information, visit
www.orbitalatk.com.
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Orbital ATKMedia Contact:Bryan Kidder (410)
864-4932Defense Systems Group
Communicationsbryan.kidder@orbitalatk.comorInvestor
Contact:Barron Beneski (703) 406-5528Public and Investor
Relationsbarron.beneski@orbitalatk.com
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