Now moving up quickly in USAF planning is the Very Small Munition (VSM), principally designed for close air support (CAS), particularly in urban areas. USAF and industry documents define the VSM as an 18-25 kg weapon, incorporating a small solid rocket motor, GPS-inertial guidance, a two-way datalink and a semi-active laser seeker. The goal is a very high load-out on both manned and unmanned vehicles; the ability to target the weapon both from the air and from the ground; and a combination of high-precision and low-collateral damage.
http://www.janes.com/defence/air_forces/news/idr/idr051220_1_n.shtml
By: sferrin - 3rd January 2006 at 09:29
you can’t lock on a Maverick onto a motorcyclist. TV and IIR guidance wont have the sensitivity to track and i don’t think they got a grunt to point a laser at that cyclist. probably a GAU-8 frag. not such a great waste there lol :diablo:
It was a BI-cycle 🙂
By: wd1 - 3rd January 2006 at 09:10
Something people don’t always consider. There was an A-10 during Desert Storm that had guy-on-a-bike sillouette painted on the side as one of it’s “kills”. The caption read something to the effect of “airforce accountants would not be pleased if that cost a Maverick”.
you can’t lock on a Maverick onto a motorcyclist. TV and IIR guidance wont have the sensitivity to track and i don’t think they got a grunt to point a laser at that cyclist. probably a GAU-8 frag. not such a great waste there lol :diablo:
By: sferrin - 2nd January 2006 at 00:41
And also too expensive.
Something people don’t always consider. There was an A-10 during Desert Storm that had guy-on-a-bike sillouette painted on the side as one of it’s “kills”. The caption read something to the effect of “airforce accountants would not be pleased if that cost a Maverick”.
By: bring_it_on - 26th December 2005 at 17:25
yup with more of these ops to see this is definately a good idea.
By: Arabella-Cox - 24th December 2005 at 00:28
There are times when fighting in cities that even Hellfire is overkill.
And also too expensive.
By: sferrin - 22nd December 2005 at 21:36
If it’s what I’m thinking of they just put a laser guidance system on a 2.76″ Hydra rocket. There are times when fighting in cities that even Hellfire is overkill.
Okay this is what they did:
“It was initially planned to field APKWS in 2001/02, but significant delays due to lack of funding have pushed this date further into the future several times. In September 2002, the APKWS program was redefined to cover the full range of MK 66 rockets, and therefore also included all unguided rockets of the Hydra 70 family. The first operational guided APKWS rocket was to be the M151 variant (also known as APKWS Block I), but the guidance section was expected to be compatible with the other warheads as well.
In April 2005, the Army eventually cancelled the General Dynamics guided APKWS program, because of poor test results. The competition has since been reopened under the label APKWS II. Proposals by the industry are expected for late 2005, the only restriction being that the weapon must still be based on the Hydra 70/MK 66 rocket. “
http://www.designation-systems.net/dusrm/app4/275in-rockets.html
By: matt - 22nd December 2005 at 17:56
Defence aero put up news about this yesterday, it seems strange, i mean these munitions just seem like rockets nothing new. Or are these some kind of kit to add to Rockets? Some kind of guidence system?
By: bring_it_on - 22nd December 2005 at 17:04
dont know but i guess as UCAV’s become more and more common the no. of weapons would also go up providing greater availability for the mission and better cost-destruction ratios.
By: sferrin - 21st December 2005 at 05:55
Is this the laser guided Hydra rocket or something else? Seems like they’d be filling the same role.
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December 21, 2005 at 4:22 am