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Successful First Qualification Firing Test of Sagem's Hammer Air-to-Ground Guided Weapon with Laser Terminal Guidance
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Hammer
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Safran group owned Sagem’s modular air-to-ground weapon, the AASM Hammer, was test fired recently. It was the first qualification firing test of the weapon’s laser terminal guidance version.
The test was carried out by French procurement agency DGA's missile test department, at the Cazaux air base on 31 May 2012. The Hammer was fired from a production Rafale fighter. The target was a bridge pier located more than 50 kilometres from the release point. An airborne illuminator was activated only during the last few seconds of the weapon's flight.
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The Hammer's guidance was deliberately initialized by offsetting the target's Geo Positioning System (GPS) coordinates by over 50 meters. Thanks to its navigation, laser spot detection and terminal guidance algorithms, the weapon hit its target to within a meter. Prior to impact, the Armement Air-Sol Modulaire (AASM), which means Air-to-Ground Modular Weapon — steered itself to a glide slope of 20 degrees, preferred for this type of operational scenario.
Developed and produced by Sagem, with the DGA as a contracting authority, the AASM Hammer is a family of air-to-ground weapons comprising guidance and range augmentation kits attached to standard bombs.
The GPS/inertial/laser guidance version, designated SBU-64 Hammer, joins the AASM range which already includes two other versions qualified for deployment by Rafale: GPS/inertial and GPS/inertial/infrared versions. The SBU-64 features a semi-active laser seeker in place of the infrared imager, plus dedicated algorithms that are activated during the terminal phase. This version of the AASM can be used to attack moving targets.
The AASM has been deployed in foreign theatres of operation, demonstrating its performance and reliability. During long-range missions on the Rafale fighter, the AASM has shown its ability to engage high-value targets, previously reserved for cruise missiles. It has also shown that it can neutralize opportunity targets, in short time loop, as well as enemy air defences, day or night and at standoff distance.
The French armed forces will start taking delivery of the SBU-64 Hammer at the end of 2012, as part of a contract that provides for the production of several hundred units.
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