So , let ’s say our armed force out had to lend a hand in a engagement without deploying troop on the soil ( * cough * * cough * Libya * cough * ) . How would they do that ? Simple : GPS . Oh , and Lasers . And mechanised ordnance store that is better at navigating than any meatbag with a map .
In a tense engagement like Libya , where nobody — including the American public — want US troops stomp around , it might seem like military options are limited . They are : to a gang of super - saucy , fantastically accurate projectile and bombs launch from the sea and sky . In some typeface , a projectile ’s solo journeying can grow from a submerge submarine hundreds of mile from its objective . Which raises the question : expect , how can it hit a quarry the size of a shipping container from , like , another country ?
It all embark on with a program . Before , say , a $ 607,000 Tomahawk land fire missile ever leaves the launching tube , it ’s program with a lot of operating instructions — called a pre - mission plan — that say it where to * ahem * land . The guide includes the latitude and longitude of the target as well as the coordinate for up to 15 other alternate ending . ( select your own adventure , anyone ? ) Also loaded are stored images of the flight path , which come in ready to hand later .
get from point A ( say , a bomber ) to place B ( say , a bunker ) ask an intricate hardening of negotiations that the Tomahawk handles on the fly ball . After our 20 - foot - long projectile protagonist pops out of the sea , it levels low to the pee in parliamentary procedure to dodge enemy microwave radar . strike at up to 550 miles per hour , the missile is guided by a GPS organisation similar to the ones 747s use , and a system called Terrain Contour Matching . TERCOM takes billet of the immediate landscape painting , but it ’s not about great deal seeing . The Tomahawk instead compares literal time data from its altimeter and microwave radar with artificial satellite imaging from a stored database to check that it ’s precisely on course of study . It ’s kind of like looking at Google Street View while you walk through a neighborhood . If the missile finds that it has zigged off its road or desired altitude , it aligns itself with the right topography to get back on track .
But thing alter apace in conflict , so the 3,330 Tomahawk Block IV has built - in ability to react to situations like a last - minute modification in target . In these cases , GPS location data point gets updated via a two - way orbiter connexion , and the projectile takes an alternative path to another remainder item . Have n’t mold the new object yet ? “ The missile can go into a loitering mode , ” explains a ace secret Navy official whose name we ca n’t employ . “ It ’s not as spectacular as a hover , but it will fly loops in the gentle wind , and it will look further tasking . ”
Remember that stored image of the route to the foe destination included in the pre - mission plan ? Well , if there are n’t any modification mid - flight of stairs , the projectile compares the pic of the route with what ’s on the undercoat . “ It adjust based on what it sees , ” says the Navy official . When everything matches up : Boom . No more shipping container .
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ltV-PjvWZYA
Destruction does n’t only do from the ocean , either . Other top-notch exact systems , like sure Guided Bomb Units ( GBU ) carried on F15E Strike Eagle planes , use lasers and tail fin for guidance . Before ever pull up stakes the basis , the turkey are programmed to expect for a sure laser key signature — the same laser touch that the planing machine is programmed to “ paint ” on its enemies . See , the bombs are ravenous for these ray - crystallize spots , but their attraction ask to be very , very specific . The Air Force does n’t want Jet#1‘s flush it hitting Jet#2‘s target ( or , like , a market store ) by stroke .
F15Es have what ’s call a targeting pod that allow Weapons Systems Officers to look for target using infrared and electro - optical mental imagery . You ’ve project this localize up on television receiver ; it ’s the projection screen with the crosshairs on it . Once they find the right maculation , the point seedcase computes the coordinates . Then , the squirt ’s computer calculate where the pilot needs to fly and when the bomb calorimeter needs to drop .
When the range is ripe , the pilot hits the “ mess clit ” ( for serious — that ’s what it ’s called ) and the optical maser manoeuver bomb is devolve from something like 20,000 feet . From here , the on - bomb calorimeter figurer plays a game of find the laser . bomb are fit out with a glassed - over searcher that kind of looks like an eye . When the seeker locate the laser - illuminated butt below , the computer tells the turkey how to move its fin to navigate the free fall . “ We can hit anything : buildings , motorcar , holes in the ground — really there ’s no limitation , ” says Major Ryan Ismirle , who take flight F15Es in Afghanistan . “ I ’ve never see one — particularly in fight - that has n’t hit its target . ”
Original graphics byChristopher Hartelius . For more of Chris ’s work and other on-key news show stories , please check out his web site , genuine American Dog .
extra image courtesyNaval Air Systems Command .
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