"Thomas Schoene" wrote in message
nk.net...
"M.R." wrote in message
u
Really interesting this evolution of UAV's and other weapons such as
JDAM munitions.
How do the JDAM munitions work? Is it and inertia launch then initial
GPS guidance and an infra-red image for the last stage to home in on.
If a UAV and JDAM weapon where combined that would have to be a fairly
stealthy target?

Current JDAMS are pure GPS -- no IR seeker.

They are INS/GPS guided and also have an INS only mode as a failsafe against
GPS jamming.

The weapon isn etirely passive
and certainly could be stealthy. The problem is that even the 500-lb JDAM
is really too big for current UAVs. Smaller bombs are in development, and
we may well see UAVs armed with them in the not-too-distant future.

The Small Diameter Bomb was due to be deployed in around 2006 i think. The
250lb weapon would be ideal for fitting to smaller platforms such as UAVs -
the probuction X-47, if there is one, would be able to carry a number of
them - and they have a high penetrating power fora small weapon. Looks
like it could be a good weapons system.

--
Tom Schoene Replace "invalid" with "net" to e-mail
"If brave men and women never died, there would be nothing
special about bravery." -- Andy Rooney (attributed)


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