Looking for Stability: Northrop Grumman to Supply Gyroscope for M1A1 Abrams Tank
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General Dynamics Land Systems awarded an $18 million firm-fixed-price contract to Northrop Grumman to produce LRS-2000 Rate Sensor Assembly units for the Stabilized Commander’s Weapon Station (SCWS) on the US Army M1A1 Abrams tank. General Dynamics is developing the SCWS system for the US Army Tank and Automotive Command.
The Northrop Grumman LRS-2000 is a 2-axis rate sensor developed to support gun and turret stabilization applications with a random drift rate of less than 1 degree per hour.
Based on Northrop Grumman’s G-2000 dynamically-tuned gyroscope, the LRS-2000 functions as part of the SCWS that provides protection from enemy gunfire or improvised explosive devices by allowing soldiers to remotely fire the tank’s machine gun from inside the tank…
On the M1A1 Abrams tank, the commander’s hatch is ringed by vision periscopes and the Commander’s Weapon Station cupola is equipped with an M2 .50 caliber machine gun. The stabilized CWS enables accurate firing of the machine gun while the tank is moving at speed over rough ground.
The LRS-2000 is currently in production with deliveries beginning in 2010. A key component of the LRS-2000, the G-2000 gyroscope provides stabilization capabilities using a servo-electronics card that improves the performance of the 2-axis gyroscope.
This is a follow-on contract to one awarded in 2008 by General Dynamics to Northrop Grumman to develop the LRS-2000 for the General Dynamics SCWS system.
