IAI to Provide Advanced Artillery Tech to the IDF

IAI to Provide Advanced Artillery Tech to the IDF

artillery
IAI

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Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) has won Israel Defense Forces’ (IDF) tender for development, production and supply of ‘TopGun’, a course correction fuze for artillery shells. The tender, which was issued by the Israel’s Ministry of Defense’s Directorate of Defense Research and Development (DDR&D), is meant to provide the IDF with a global, first-of-its-kind development of this Fuze.

TopGun is an add-on fuze mounted on 155mm shells used by the IDF. It allows guiding the shell to its target (a pre-defined coordinate) after it has been fired. The aerodynamic guidance is performed with small wings controlled by miniaturized avionics embedded into the Fuze. TopGun is capable of accurately calculating its location in space and plan the optimal course required for the shell to engage with the predefined target.

TopGun essentially converts standard artillery ammunition into a precision guided weapon, which is highly relevant for future warfare arenas, both in Israel and globally. It allows expanding the task range allocated to artillery and faster, more efficient performance of artillery assignments.

According to IAI’s announcement, this unique technology has matured following years of challenging technological development effort so it can be further customized for the operational requirements of IDF. Technological challenges included protecting the survivability of electronic and mechanical components in a difficult firing environment and miniaturization of the entire avionics into the size of a Fuze.