Small Tactical Munition | |
---|---|
Type | UCAV bomb |
Place of origin | United States |
Production history | |
Manufacturer | Raytheon |
Specifications | |
Mass | 13 pounds (5.9 kg) |
Length | 55 centimetres (22 in) |
Guidance system | Dual-mode seeker: semi-active laser guidance plus GPS-INS |
Launch platform | UCAVs |
The Pyros, previously referred to as the Small Tactical Munition (STM), is a weapon developed by Raytheon, designed to be used by UCAVs. [1] [2] [3]
Raytheon successfully conducted flight tests in October 2010, and it may be used to arm the AAI RQ-7 Shadow. [4]
It weighs 13 pounds (5.9 kg), and originally had a 7 lb (3.2 kg) warhead. [5] On April 18, 2011, Raytheon successfully tested a new 5 lb (2.3 kg) warhead for the weapon. Though lighter, the new warhead has a significantly improved blast-fragment capability. [6] Designed for low collateral damage, its lethal radius is only 15 ft (4.6 m), with non-lethal effects extending further but lethality dropping dramatically. [7]
In July 2012, Raytheon claimed the STM could be "months" away from fielding. [8] In early August 2012, Raytheon renamed the munition Pyros and completed the first end-to-end test of the bomb. [9] The test validated the weapon's guidance modes, height-of-burst sensor, electronic safe and arm device, and multi-effects warhead. [10]
On July 18, 2014, Raytheon conducted the first live-fire test of the Pyros. The munition targeted a simulated group of insurgents planting a roadside bomb and used its height-of-burst sensor to detonate several feet above the ground. [11] Dropped from an altitude of 10,000 ft (3,000 m), the Pyros takes 35–40 seconds to reach the ground. [12]
The AAI RQ-7 Shadow is an American unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) used by the United States Army, Australian Army, Swedish Army, Turkish Air Force and Italian Army for reconnaissance, surveillance, target acquisition and battle damage assessment. Launched from a trailer-mounted pneumatic catapult, it is recovered with the aid of arresting gear similar to jets on an aircraft carrier. Its gimbal-mounted, digitally stabilized, liquid nitrogen-cooled electro-optical/infrared (EO/IR) camera relays video in real time via a C-band line-of-sight data link to the ground control station (GCS).
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