Lock-on after launch (LOAL) is the ability of missile systems to lock-on to a target after being launched from a carrier vehicle.
LOAL is an important part of modern weapon systems as it allows a weapon to be carried internally (onboard an aircraft) to increase stealth and then to acquire a target once it has been launched.
LOAL systems normally rely on cuing from a helmet-mounted sight or onboard sensors such as radar or forward-looking infrared (FLIR) and use a simple strapdown inertial guidance system to know where to look after launch.
Examples of LOAL weapons include the Advanced Short Range Air-to-Air Missile (ASRAAM), later versions of the AGM-114 Hellfire anti-tank missile as well as the LR, LR2,[1] ER, ER2[2] and NLOS[3] variants of the Spike anti-tank missile.
The older method of launch has retroactively become known as lock-on before launch (LOBL), although this term is not commonly used and is a "backronym" that distinguishes it from the LOAL method.