Bombs, Smart

History

A number of considerations promoted the development of smart bombs, including the desire to increase bombing accuracy and reduce risk to bomber crews. Additional considerations included the desire to reduce civilian casualties and collateral damage. The development of smart bombs evolved from research undertaken during World War I and World War II. Those projects included the work of Charles F. Kettering on the aerial torpedo and German researchers who developed the Fritz X and Hs 293. During World War II, researchers working for the U.S. Army developed the Azon-guided (azimuth only) and Razon-guided bombs.

The Azon bomb was the first radio-controlled bomb used operationally by the U.S. Army Air Corps. The Azon bomb, used until November 1944, attached a radio-command link-control tail kit to a standard bomb body. At the end of World War II, and again in the Korean War, the Army Air Corps deployed the Razon bomb that featured two control assemblies, based on a 1,000- or 2,000-pound standard bomb.

The development of atomic bombs at the close of World War II caused many to believe that conventional war was outdated. As a result, interest in PGMs all but vanished. However, during the 1950s and 1960s, it became apparent that nation-states were reluctant to use atomic weapons and continued to fight conventional wars using conventional weapons. As a result, research in PGMs found new life.

[Page 242]During the Vietnam War, research into smart bombs gained momentum. Ground commanders demanded a weapon that would allow them to destroy critical targets in or near population centers while causing little or no civilian casualties or collateral damage.

In part to meet that need, researchers at the U.S. Army Missile Command, Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, began experimenting with a laser guidance system for conventional bombs in 1962. All laser-guided bombs (LGBs) work in much the same way. The attacker illuminates the target with a laser, referred to as painting the target. The guidance package attached to the bomb allows it to fly to the target along the laser beam, thus increasing bombing accuracy. LGBs, however, have limitations. Cloud cover, fog, dust, or smoke disrupts the beam used to designate the target, restricting their use in all but fair weather.

The U.S. Air Force initially showed little interest in LGB research but adopted the project as its own by the late 1960s. Pilots assigned to the 8th Tactical Fighter Wing, Ubon, Thailand, dropped the first LGB during the Vietnam War, in May 1968. The weapon, a Bolt-117, was a 750-pound M117 equipped with a KMU-342B guidance kit.

...