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Concept
Missile guidance
Summary
Missile guidance refers to several methods of guiding a missile or a guided bomb to its intended target. The missile's target accuracy is a critical factor for its effectiveness. Guidance systems improve missile accuracy by improving its Probability of Guidance (Pg).
These guidance technologies can generally be divided up into a number of categories, with the broadest categories being "active", "passive", and "preset" guidance. Missiles and guided bombs generally use similar types of guidance system, the difference between the two being that missiles are powered by an onboard engine, whereas guided bombs rely on the speed and height of the launch aircraft for propulsion.
The concept of unmanned guidance originated at least as early as World War I, with the idea of remotely guiding an airplane bomb onto a target, such as the systems developed for the first powered drones by Archibald Low (The Father of Radio Guidance).
In World War II, guided missiles were first developed, as part of the German V-weapons program. Project Pigeon was American behaviorist B.F. Skinner's attempt to develop a pigeon-guided bomb.
The first U.S. ballistic missile with a highly accurate inertial guidance system was the short-range PGM-11 Redstone.
Guidance systems are divided into different categories according to whether they are designed to attack fixed or moving targets. The weapons can be divided into two broad categories: Go-onto-target (GOT) and go-onto-location-in-space (GOLIS) guidance systems. A GOT missile can target either a moving or fixed target, whereas a GOLIS weapon is limited to a stationary or near-stationary target.
The trajectory that a missile takes while attacking a moving target is dependent upon the movement of the target. A moving target can be an immediate threat to the missile launcher. The target must be promptly eliminated in order to preserve the launcher. In GOLIS systems, the problem is simpler because the target is not moving.
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Wire-guided missile
A wire-guided missile is a missile that is guided by signals sent to it via thin wires connected between the missile and its guidance mechanism, which is located somewhere near the launch site. As the missile flies, the wires are reeled out behind it (command guidance). This guidance system is most commonly used in anti-tank missiles, where its ability to be used in areas of limited line-of-sight make it useful, while the range limit imposed by the length of the wire is not a serious concern.
Precision-guided munition
A precision-guided munition (PGM, smart weapon, smart munition, smart bomb) is a guided munition intended to precisely hit a specific target, to minimize collateral damage and increase lethality against intended targets. During the First Gulf War guided munitions accounted for only 9% of weapons fired, but accounted for 75% of all successful hits. Despite guided weapons generally being used on more difficult targets, they were still 35 times more likely to destroy their targets per weapon dropped.
Guidance system
A guidance system is a virtual or physical device, or a group of devices implementing a controlling the movement of a ship, aircraft, missile, rocket, satellite, or any other moving object. Guidance is the process of calculating the changes in position, velocity, altitude, and/or rotation rates of a moving object required to follow a certain trajectory and/or altitude profile based on information about the object's state of motion.