ATK Wins $22.8 Million B Proximity Sensor Contract

ATK has been awarded a production contract for the DSU-33D/B Proximity Sensor for the U.S. Air Force with the initial order value $22.8 million and deliveries will commence in 2015.

The ATK sensor uses radar signals to determine the correct height above a target for precise warhead detonation and maximum effect. The contract also contains provisions for four optional order periods totaling up to $84 million.

"The DSU-33 sensor is a force multiplier for U.S. air power, helping make our nation's weaponry more effective," said Cary Ralston, vice president and general manager of ATK's Missile Products division. "We look forward to partnering with our Army and Air Force customers to deliver the highest quality product, and provide this essential capability to the U.S. Armed Forces."

"Long-term customers of the DSU-33 rely on the extreme precision our sensor affords," said Mike Kahn, president of ATK's Defense Group. "It is a great example of how ATK provides technologically advanced product accuracy, reliability and overall effectiveness."

ATK is the sole provider of the DSU-33 sensor family, delivering more than 154,000 sensors to the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Navy since starting production in 1999. The DSU-33D/B is employed in aerial munitions utilizing general-purpose, blast-fragmentation warheads such as the MK80 series, including JDAM precision weapons equipped with such warheads. DSU-33D/B is an all-weather, active, radio-frequency, ranging radar that senses the height of the weapon above the target area. It is used in conjunction with FMU-139 and FMU-152 fuzes to detonate the weapon at a fixed height above surface targets, maximizing the warhead's blast and fragmentation effects.

The DSU-33D/B will be produced at the Allegany Ballistics Laboratory (ABL) facility in Rocket Center, W.Va. ABL is a U.S. Navy-owned, ATK-operated facility specializing in advanced manufacturing technologies for a variety of programs supporting current and future U.S. industrial base needs in advanced fuzing and integration, conventional munitions assemblies, solid rocket motor propulsion and advanced material structures.