Guided bomb

A guided bomb (also known as a smart bomb, guided bomb unit, or GBU) is a precision-guided munition designed to achieve a smaller circular error probable (CEP).[1][2]

"Smart bomb" redirects here. For other uses, see Smart bomb (disambiguation).
BOLT-117, the world's first laser-guided bomb

Because the damage effects of explosive weapons fall off with distance according to a power law, even modest improvements in accuracy (and hence reduction in miss distance) enable a target to be effectively attacked with fewer or smaller bombs. Therefore, with guided weapons, fewer air crews are put at risk, less ordnance spent, and collateral damage reduced.

The creation of precision-guided munitions resulted in the retroactive renaming of older bombs as unguided bombs or "dumb bombs".


History

The guided bomb had its origins in World War II. Its usage increased after the success of the weapon in the Gulf War.

World War II
A BAT guided bomb

In World War II, the aforementioned Fritz X and Henschel Hs 293 guided ordnance designs were used in combat by Nazi Germany against ships, as the USAAF would do with the Azon in hitting bridges and other hard-to-hit targets in both Western Europe and Burma. Later, U.S. National Defense Research Committee developed the VB-6 Felix, which used infrared to home on ships. While it entered production in 1945, it was never employed operationally.[11]

Korean War

The US briefly deployed the ASM-A-1 Tarzon (or VB-13 Tarson) bomb (a Tallboy fitted with radio guidance) during the Korean War, dropping them from Boeing B-29 Superfortresses.

Vietnam War

In 1962, the US Army began research into laser guidance systems and by 1967 the USAF had conducted a competitive evaluation leading to full development of the world's first laser-guided bomb, the BOLT-117, in 1968.

Gulf War

GBU-12 Paveway IIs were used to great effect in the first Gulf War, dropped from F-111F aircraft to destroy Iraqi armored vehicles in a process referred to as "tank plinking".

Era of non-linear warfare

Lessons learned during the first Gulf War showed the value of guided bombs.

Advanced guidance concepts

Responding to after-action reports from pilots who employed laser and/or satellite guided weapons, Boeing has developed a Laser JDAM (LJDAM) to provide both types of guidance in a single kit. Based on the existing JDAM configurations, a laser guidance package is added to a GPS/INS guided weapon to increase the overall accuracy of the weapons.[12] Raytheon has developed the Enhanced Paveway family, which adds GPS/INS guidance to their Paveway family of laser-guidance packages.[13] These "hybrid" laser and GPS guided weapons permit the carriage of fewer weapons types, while retaining mission flexibility, because these weapons can be employed equally against moving and fixed targets, or targets of opportunity. For instance, a typical weapons load on an F-16 flying in the Iraq War included a single 2,000-lb JDAM and two 1,000-lb LGBs. With LJDAM, and the new Small Diameter Bomb, these same aircraft can carry more bombs if necessary, and have the option of satellite or laser guidance for each weapon release.

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See also

Notes
  1. Hamilton, Richard (1995). "Precision guided munitions and the new era of warefare". Air Power Studies Centre, Royal Australian Air Force. Retrieved 2009-02-02.
  2. "Bomb With A Brain". British Pathé newsreel 52/51A, June 23, 1952. Accessed 2013-04-04.
  3. Fitzsimons, op. cit., Volume 10, p.1090, "Gargoyle".
  4. Fitzsimons, op. cit., Volume 9, p.926, "Felix".
  5. Thanh Hoa Bridge Archived 2005-11-09 at the Wayback Machine
  6. Britain's Small Wars Archived 2011-01-20 at the Wayback Machine
  7. JDAM continues to be warfighter's weapon of choice
  8. U.S. Air Force Factsheets: Joint Direct Attack Munition
  9. JDAM Specifications
  10. DCI Statement on the Belgrade Chinese Embassy Archived 2006-10-04 at the Wayback Machine
  11. Fitzsimons, op. cit., Volume 9, p.926, "Felix".
  12. Boeing Laser JDAM
  13. Raytheon Enhanced Paveway Archived 2008-03-07 at the Wayback Machine
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