smart weapon
smart weapon,
missile or steerable bomb equipped with a laserlaser[acronym for light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation], device for the creation, amplification, and transmission of a narrow, intense beam of coherent light. The laser is sometimes referred to as an optical maser.
..... Click the link for more information. , televisiontelevision,
transmission and reception of still or moving images by means of electrical signals, originally primarily by means of electromagnetic radiation using the techniques of radio, now also by fiber-optic and coaxial cables and other means.
..... Click the link for more information. , or satellite guidance system. Smart weapons, which use guidance systems that rely on external assistance, are distinguished from brilliant weapons, which are totally self-guided. In the case of a smart bomb with a laser guidance system, an aircraft pilot aims a laser beam at the target, a computercomputer,
device capable of performing a series of arithmetic or logical operations. A computer is distinguished from a calculating machine, such as an electronic calculator, by being able to store a computer program (so that it can repeat its operations and make logical
..... Click the link for more information. keeps the beam locked on the target, and the bomb has a sensor programmed to find the reflection of the laser's light. A guidance computer adjusts the path of the bomb after it is released, using movable fins to steer. A television guidance system uses a television camera in the nose of the weapon to lock onto the image of the target identified by the pilot. Satellite-guided bombs have guidance computers that use signals from navigation satellites to confirm that they are on target; the tail fins are adjusted to control the bomb's course as it falls. Cruise missilescruise missile,
low-flying, continuously powered offensive missile designed to evade defense systems. Although the German V-1 (1944) was a simple cruise missile, the cruise missile did not realize its potential until the 1970s, when the United States sought to develop a
..... Click the link for more information. also utilize information from navigation satellites to maintain a proper course during flight. Extensions of smart-weapon technology are off-road mines that can "listen" for moving vehicles and attack them, "thinking" antipersonnel mines that are activated or deactivated automatically after a set period of time, and missile and artillery fire targeted by space-based intelligence-gathering satellites.