Abstract: Target location is one of the typical functions and tasks of the photoelectric turret, and its location accuracy is also one of the operational technical indicators of the turret. This problem was analyzed from the angle of theory and simulation. Firstly, the coordinate systems used in target location and their mutual transformation relations were analyzed. Secondly, the algorithms flow of photoelectric turret optic axis inversion, active target location and passive target location were given. Thirdly, considering the possible sources of random errors in location, the algorithms were simulated and verified, and the location results with or without mean-filtering were evaluated. Lastly, the location accuracy was calculated by the Monte-Carlo method. The results show that: 1) active location is better than passive location (under the assumption of simulation, the longitude is increased by about 1 time); 2) after mean-filtering, the location accuracy is improved (about 15 time); 3) the typical passive location accuracy of about 18 km distance is about 39.4 m under the condition of 80% confidence; 4) the analysis results of statistical histogram show that the radius of CEP at 80% confidence of location accuracy and the change results of the maximum error distance with different parameters such as aircraft position, attitude and turret optic axis, etc (reflected in the target-carrier distance).