Contents
- General
- Bomb & Missile Guidance
- Artillery Pointing
- Patents
General
Work on bomb guidance for the US Air Force is done at Wright Laboratory Armament Directorate at Eglin AFB, Florida. GPS work in particular is done by the lab's Flight Control Technology group.Bomb & Missile Guidance
The Paveway program saw the development of clip-on laser guidance kits that provide a cheap air-dropped bomb precision targeting capabilites. The EDGE (Exploitation of Differential GPS for Guidance Enhancement) program is developing similar capabilities but with GPS rather than laser guidance. In one test at Eglin AFB, a GBU-15, a 2000 lb glide bomb with a combined INS/GPS seeker successfully hit a target 11 miles from it's drop point. An U.S. Air Force F-16 dropped the bomb from an altitude of 25,000 feet. The bomb hit within 6 feet (2 meters) of the target. Four DGPS base stations, located approximately 1,000 nautical miles from Eglin AFB were used to provide corrections to the bomb. The EDGE program has since transitioned to the JDAM (Joint Direct Attack Munitions) program. Sheila E. Widnall, Secretary of the Air Force stated at an Air Force Association national symposium that the per unit cost for a JDAM from the first production run was approximately $18,000.The first U.S. shots fired at Iraq at the beginning of Desert Storm were in fact AGM-86C conventional air launched cruise missiles (CALCM) launched from USAF B-52s. These cruise missiles contained rather crude single-channel GPS receivers which were quickly integrated into the missile's existing navigation system. Development on GPS guidance has continued. In a December 12, 1996 test, a CALCM guided solely by GPS sucessfully struck it's target after a 4 1/2 hour flight, demonstrating precision strike capability.
Artillery Pointing
Artillery batteries can shorten the time needed to survey in guns before they begin operation. This is relatively important in modern warfare because artillery batteries must move often to keep from being hit from counterfire. This principle is demonstrated in the U.S. Army's MLRS surface to surface missile system. The MLRS vehicle can carry up to eight unguided rockets in one tracked vehicle. An inertial guidance system in the vehicle is used to position the vehicle and aim the launch box at the target. A single MLRS vehicle, such as the one shown below, can stop, aim, shoot and leave within four minutes while providing the firepower of an entire battery.
