Loral Vought Systems Corporation

Ltv Missiles and Electronics Group

Lockheed Martin Corporation

Lewis G Minor

Nicholas J Krasutsky

Edward Max Flowers

Robert T Kitahara

The invention provides a method and apparatus for guiding a weapon to a target using an optical seeker having dual semi-active laser (SAL) and laser radar (LADAR) modes of operation. The dual mode seeker incorporates a laser light source, an optical package including a quadrant detector for operating in SAL mode and a LADAR receiver for operating in LADAR mode. The seeker further includes a high speed scanning mirror for switching between modes to guide the weapon to the target. The method for guiding a weapon to a target includes receiving radiation from the target and tracking the radiation to guide the weapon; monitoring the detected radiation such that if the radiation falls below a predetermined level, a laser system on-board the weapon continues guiding the weapon by generating a laser beam; reflecting the laser beam off the target so that the reflected laser radiation is received from the target to track the radiation and guide the weapon to the target.

Dual mode semi-active laser/laser radar seeker

A gimballed optical system within a seeker head includes a relatively low power laser coupled to a relatively higher power laser by way of a flexible fiber optic cable to reduce the mass that must be oscillated in a scan.

Improved laser radar transceiver

The invention provides a method and apparatus for recognizing physical objects, such as targets, through three dimensional image sensing. A three dimensional sensor, such as a solid-state LADAR sensor, is utilized to establish a three dimensional image of an object or target. The target will be identified or recognized in reference to a two dimensional digital representation of the object taken from a first eye point. A sensor field of view anticipated to include the object will be transformed such that sensed data is viewed from the perspective of the eye point from which the reference image was established. Selected surfaces or contours of the two dimensional image and the transformed image are then compared to identify the object or target in question.

Guidance and targeting system

Laser radar transceiver

An apertured mirror permits an outgoing, transmitted laser beam to pass and reflects a return, reflected beam onto a detector array.

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Arlington, TX, United States of America

Lewis G Minor