"M" *@*.* wrote in message ...
Kevin Brooks
How many smart AT packages have we fielded for the arty systems? None,
other
than Copperhead, which has a mixed record. We have tested some, and
gotten
to the almost-ready-to-field stage, but not actually fielded them. That
*may* change with the new GMLRS (guided MLRS)...there was some talk
about
fielding a smart submunition package for it and for ATACMS.

But there are non-US systems, like the Swedish Strix, which
is a 120mm mortar fired guided AT round. At least on paper,
it seems very formidable with autonomous guidance, target
search and prioritization, and a decent-sized top-attack
warhead. The Brittish 80mm Merlin was rather similar, although
mm-wave radar rather than IR, but I recall that it was cancelled.

I find it surprizing that the US hasn't adopted any smart
artillery rounds, except the Copperhead, which really isn't
all that smart (non-autonomous). Especially considering the
hype that was there already in the 80's about cargo rockets
with autonomous AT-munitions that would render massed MBT usage
obsolete (again ... Eg plans of Lance carrying dozens of
such munitions.

Perhaps the fact that none was fielded has something to do
with the end of the cold war. Speculatively, if it was seen
that the AH's (etc) that they already had were sufficient to
deal with any armour threat out there? Otoh, it's interesting
that Sweden would come up with such a round. Do they perhaps
see it the other way around, as a substitute for the attack
helos they don't have?

From all reports the SADARM rounds performed_very_well in the Iraq-2 war.
Unfortunately, almost all of them have been expended and evidently there are
no plans to reopen production. The Army is soliciting non-development
proposals for rounds to restock.

There's a fair amount of activity in course-correcting artillery rounds. The
cheapest is so-called "1D", range-only correction. A smart fuze deploys an
airbrake after so many revolutions of the round. For some of them, the
number of revolutions is uplinked to the round after it leaves the muzzle,
based on muzzle velocity measurements. The 1-D fuzes reduce the range part
of the error ellipse which is the largest part of total error. There are
also "1.5D" and "2D" correcting shells in development that can correct
cross-range errors as well.

All of these are "non-smart" in that there is no terminal target sensing but
like GMLRS, the decrease in CEP will increase lethality against hard
targets. Based on the standard equations for SSKP against hard targets using
blast overpressure as the kill mechanism, lethality goes up as CEP^2. I'm
not sure how applicable that model is since blast normally won't kill armor
but it's an indicator.