Engineers at the U.S. Army have developed a gun-based platform designed to counter threats posed by unmanned aerial systems, mortars, artillery and rockets, the service branch said Thursday.A research team at New Jersey-based Picatinny Arsenal received funding from the military branch’s Armament Research, Development and Engineering Center to develop the  system under the Extended Area Protection and Survivability Integrated Demonstration program.
“The smaller and smaller the protective area, the more efficient the gun systems become compared to missiles,” said Manfredi Luciano, the project officer for the EAPS system.
“You don’t need as many, and the gun system has certain logistics advantages.”
The EAPS system has a Technovative Applications-built radar interferometer that works as a sensor, a radiofrequency receiver and transmitter, fire-control system, Orbital ATK-developed interceptors and Aerojet Rocketdyne-made warheads.
The platform works to monitor and target hostile UAS and interceptors by transmitting assessment data down to the ground station, which in turn computes the trajectory correction course and sends commands back to the EAPS system to carry out warhead detonation against aerial threats, Lopez reports.
ARDEC engineers plan to equip the gun-based system with a 50-millimeter Bushmaster cannon to direct and launch projectiles against UAS targets and other threats.
The research group tested the platform at Arizona-based Yuma Proving Ground April 22.
