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From: stevel%u2.calgary.hp.com%hpcal@uunet.UU.NET (Steve LaCourse)
Newsgroups: sci.military
Subject: Re: How do Smart Bombs Work?
Message-ID: <1991Jan23.041910.6229@cbnews.att.com>
Date: 23 Jan 91 04:19:10 GMT
References: <1991Jan19.042546.5785@cbnews.att.com>
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From: stevel%u2.calgary.hp.com%hpcal@uunet.UU.NET (Steve LaCourse)
jackson@ttidcc.tti.com (Dick Jackson) writes:



>How many types of smart bomb are there? Is it possible for bombs dropped
>from high altitude to change course on the way down based on some kind
>of internal recognition, e.g. they locate tank silhouettes, etc?

>If not, I don't understand how the raids on Baghdad, which were said to
>be flown "above the range of flak", could be classed as precision.

>Dick Jackson


One example is a laser guided bomb where the aircraft remains high over
the target after dropping the bomb and  maintains a laser "lock" on the
target which the bomb follows during descent. This way, an aircraft (say
B-52) can fly high above flak range but with the high help of high-res
optics/radar, guide the "smart-bomb" directly on target (I think this
was used on the first day of attack on the Iraqi Defense Building - I
saw the pictures on TV which showed a close-up of the building from an
obviously high altitude and a cross-hair on the target and
then......BOOM!)


Steve LaCourse
stevel@hpcpdcz.calgary.hp.com