Conventional Munitions

Conventional Munitions under the Air Force's Research, Development, Test & Evaluation budget activity, aims to investigate and develop guidance and ordnance technologies for conventional munitions. This program supports the development of seekers that provide high-confidence target discrimination and classification with precise target location and robust terminal tracking, navigation technologies that do not rely upon the Global Positioning System (GPS), and various warhead technologies. The program also focuses on developing collaborative, synchronized fuzing and high-performance explosives. Additionally, it may include necessary expenses for civilian pay and facilities maintenance to manage and deliver science & technology capabilities.

Within this program, Project 622068: Advanced Guidance Technology specifically investigates, develops, and evaluates conventional munitions guidance technologies to establish technical feasibility and military utility of innovative munition seekers, weapon aerodynamics, navigation and control, and guidance subsystem integration/simulation. The project aims to develop capabilities such as adverse-weather, GPS-degraded and GPS-denied precision munition guidance capability, increased aerospace vehicle survivability, improved weapon reliability and affordability, as well as improved weapon survivability and effectiveness. The project also emphasizes the development of novel position, navigation and timing technology for GPS-denied environments, cooperative autonomous weapon behaviors, precision navigation at supersonic speeds, and alternative-navigation technology for high-speed/hypersonic weapons.

In summary, the goals of Program PE 0602602F are to advance the technical feasibility and military utility of guidance and ordnance technologies for conventional munitions while supporting core technical competencies in munitions aerodynamics, guidance, navigation, control, terminal seeker sciences, fuze technology, energetic materials, damage mechanisms, and munition systems effects. These efforts align with the broader objectives of enhancing precision targeting capabilities in adverse conditions and improving overall weapon reliability and effectiveness.