Precision-guided munition
[3][4] Unlike unguided munitions, PGMs use active or passive control mechanisms capable of steering the weapon towards its intended target.
[1][7] PGMs can be deployed from various platforms, including aircraft, naval ships, ground vehicles, ground-based launchers, and UAVs.
Thus, even if some guided bombs miss, fewer air crews are put at risk and the harm to civilians and the amount of collateral damage may be reduced.
Some challenges of precision-guided munitions include high development and production costs and the reliance of PGMs on advanced technologies like GPS make them vulnerable to electronic warfare and cyberattacks.
[17] Recognizing the difficulty of hitting moving ships during the Spanish Civil War,[18] the Germans were first to develop steerable munitions, using radio control or wire guidance.
[21] Japanese PGMs—with the exception of the anti-ship air-launched, rocket-powered, human-piloted Yokosuka MXY-7 Ohka, "Kamikaze" flying bomb did not see combat in World War II.
The United States Army Air Forces used similar techniques with Operation Aphrodite, but had few successes; the German Mistel (Mistletoe) "parasite aircraft" was no more effective, guided by the human pilot flying the single-engined fighter mounted above the unmanned, explosive-laden twin-engined "flying bomb" below it, released in the Mistel's attack dive from the fighter.
Such weapons were used increasingly by the USAF in the last few years of the Vietnam War because the political climate was increasingly intolerant of civilian casualties, and because it was possible to strike difficult targets (such as bridges) effectively with a single mission; the Thanh Hoa Bridge, for instance, was attacked repeatedly with iron bombs, to no effect, only to be dropped in one mission with PGMs.
In World War II, the U.S. National Defense Research Committee developed the VB-6 Felix, which used infrared to home on ships.
When Texas Instruments executive Glenn E. Penisten attempted to sell the new technology to the Air Force they inquired if it could instead be used as a ground attack system to overcome problems they were having with accuracy of bombing in Vietnam.
Without the existence of targeting pods they had to be aimed using a hand held laser from the back seat of an F-4 Phantom aircraft, but still performed well.
This structure had previously been the target of 800 American sorties[28] (using unguided weapons) and was partially destroyed in each of two successful attacks, the other being on 27 April 1972 using AGM-62 Walleyes.
Lessons learned during the first Gulf War showed the value of precision munitions, yet they also highlighted the difficulties in employing them—specifically when visibility of the ground or target from the air was degraded.
According to a CIA report, the accidental United States bombing of the Chinese embassy in Belgrade during Operation Allied Force by NATO aircraft was attributed to faulty target information.
[53] However, if the targeting information is accurate, satellite-guided weapons are significantly more likely to achieve a successful strike in any given weather conditions than any other type of precision-guided munition.
Based on the existing Joint Direct Attack Munition configurations, a laser guidance package is added to a GPS/INS-guided weapon to increase its overall accuracy.
Precision-guided small arms prototypes have been developed which use a laser designator to guide an electronically actuated bullet to a target.
[85] In 2012 Sandia National Laboratories announced a self-guided bullet prototype that could track a target illuminated with a laser designator.
[86] In mid-2016, Russia revealed it was developing a similar "smart bullet" weapon designed to hit targets at a distance of up to 6 mi (10 km).
