ETI holds a patent for the fabrication of this mirror. A 25 facet, inward looking scan mirror for the IR Maverick missile seeker, shown during final inspection (right). The substrate is beryllium copper that had been diamond “fly-cut” on a five axis CNC machine.
An unusual prep cycle was developed by ETI’s engineers for the then Hughes (Aircraft) Optical Products (HOPI), which involved minimal etch of the optical surfaces without sacrificing plating adhesion. This also meant that the plating could not be stripped; a defective mirror had to be recut.
Among Epner Technology’s patents is one to fabricate this part using classical optical polishing techniques. The individual facets were reassembled by laser welding after being cut into individual facets by wire EDM and then lapped. The “inward looking” design permits an optical train of greatly reduced length. More than 50,000 of these scanners have been Laser Gold coated. The plating specification: 0.5 microns Nickel, .05 microns Laser Gold.
Directory of U.S Military Rockets and Missiles: AGM-65 Maverick
