Quwa
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Introducing Quwa's series of primers on current day military technology. I am starting with 'precision strike' and the technology and specific systems employed to achieve it.
WHAT IS ‘PRECISION STRIKE?’
The Basics of Precision Strike
By Bilal Khan
While the concept of “precision strike” has been in use since as far back as Vietnam War[1], the term became popular with the advent of the first U.S invasion of Iraq in 1991 and has been thrown around by defence analysts, military officials and government leaders ever since.[2] The general premise of the concept is the idea that a munition could strike its target so accurately that it would not only neutralize it, but it would do so with minimal collateral damage.[3]
The latter half of the premise (about collateral damage) is questionable, especially in the context of how it has been used to justify military doctrine that allows for intentionally engaging targets within dense civilian environments (a brief look at any of Israel’s recent incursions into Gaza is enough to ascertain this point). However, the point about accurately reaching the target is valid, and its importance in state-to-state encounters involving high-value targets in the form of dockyards, fuel depots, aircraft hangars and other capital infrastructure of use to an enemy’s military should not be ignored.
It would be difficult to cover this concept in its complete detail in one piece, especially in terms of the specific weapon systems involved (there are many!), but an attempt will be made here to offer a solid high-level idea of how this technology works as well as its history and development.
The origins of precision strike (or precision-guided) could be traced all the way back to the Second World War where the Germans employed manual command line-of-sight (MCLOS) gravity bombs such as the Fritz X.[4] After launch, the Fritz X unit was controlled via radio by an operator in the launch aircraft, who would guide the bomb to its target.[5] The Fritz X was used to great effect by the Germans against Allied naval ships, but as the Allies secured air superiority, Germany’s ability to use the Fritz X was gradually curtailed.[6] But the concept itself was solid, and it was built upon by the 1960s (particularly by the U.S) through the development and use of electro-optical (i.e. TV) guidance.
Read the rest: What is ‘Precision Strike?’
WHAT IS ‘PRECISION STRIKE?’
The Basics of Precision Strike
By Bilal Khan
While the concept of “precision strike” has been in use since as far back as Vietnam War[1], the term became popular with the advent of the first U.S invasion of Iraq in 1991 and has been thrown around by defence analysts, military officials and government leaders ever since.[2] The general premise of the concept is the idea that a munition could strike its target so accurately that it would not only neutralize it, but it would do so with minimal collateral damage.[3]
The latter half of the premise (about collateral damage) is questionable, especially in the context of how it has been used to justify military doctrine that allows for intentionally engaging targets within dense civilian environments (a brief look at any of Israel’s recent incursions into Gaza is enough to ascertain this point). However, the point about accurately reaching the target is valid, and its importance in state-to-state encounters involving high-value targets in the form of dockyards, fuel depots, aircraft hangars and other capital infrastructure of use to an enemy’s military should not be ignored.
It would be difficult to cover this concept in its complete detail in one piece, especially in terms of the specific weapon systems involved (there are many!), but an attempt will be made here to offer a solid high-level idea of how this technology works as well as its history and development.
The origins of precision strike (or precision-guided) could be traced all the way back to the Second World War where the Germans employed manual command line-of-sight (MCLOS) gravity bombs such as the Fritz X.[4] After launch, the Fritz X unit was controlled via radio by an operator in the launch aircraft, who would guide the bomb to its target.[5] The Fritz X was used to great effect by the Germans against Allied naval ships, but as the Allies secured air superiority, Germany’s ability to use the Fritz X was gradually curtailed.[6] But the concept itself was solid, and it was built upon by the 1960s (particularly by the U.S) through the development and use of electro-optical (i.e. TV) guidance.
Read the rest: What is ‘Precision Strike?’
