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Assault Breaker in action. A Martin Marietta T-16 missile dispenses its payload of twelve submunitions, either TGSMs or SDAVs, as it dives at supersonic speed on to a tank formation. The submunitions have been released in a specific pattern to ensure coverage of the whole target array, be it circular, linear or other.
Technology Explained – Smart Weapons
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Precision Guided Munitions
The New Breed
Precision Guided Munitions (PGMs) entered the world of warfare in the sixties, and the basic species then matured in the seventies. Though the weapons of the seventies were a far cry from the rather rudimentary systems of a decade earlier, they all had one essential characteristic in common: one weapon = one target. This was more than adequate for the period, but times change and so has the concentration of Soviet forces in the critical central European theatre. The Russians spent a lot of roubles, resulting in a substantial imbalance in both armour and aircraft. They are still spending a lot of roubles and many Western analysts predict they will continue to happily do so for some time yet. This has understandably affected Western PGM development, in the short term leading to multiple targeting systems, in the long term to the development of an entirely new generation of standoff PGMs.
What need not be apparent at first sight is the fundamental change to warfare which is about to occur with the introduction of these systems. ‘One vs one’ no longer really applies, the norm will be ‘one vs many’ at standoff ranges. The key element in this phase of weapons evolution is the microprocessor chip and its cousin, the dedicated VLSI signal processor chip. Both of these semiconductor devices will allow the weapons designer to package a lot (easily millions of instructions per second)of computing power into very small (typically tens of cubic inches) volumes with very little power consumption (Watts to tens of Watts). The end result is that the designer may program various degrees of intelligence and decision making capability into the weapon, just ashe has the option of using very sophisticated target recognition techniques. Simple deceptive countermeasures such as infra-red (JR) flares cease to be effective to any degree, just as camouflage paint becomes a waste of time.
The new generation of PGMs is thus certain to further widen the gap between the advanced powers and the Third World, while also painfully blunting whatever edge Warpac managed to gain in its post 1970 spending spree. The capacity to support and use these newer PGMs will in fact differentiate the advanced nations from the rest and could severely alter the world military balance in terms of non-nuclear military capability. Numerical strength will cease to have bearing, once certain overkill ratios in PGM capability become established.
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