A Look At The History On How Missiles Became More Accurate

Lockheed Martin's F-35A. Pixabay

Popular Science: How missiles got smart

Projecting the evolution of the projectile.

Humans have been ­hurling projectiles at one another—with varying degrees of accuracy—since we developed opposable thumbs. But it was only in the past 100-odd years that we created missiles that can steer themselves. We spent the past century of trial and error in an endless attempt to throw bigger bombs farther and more precisely. As ­technology improved, weapons ­graduated from wire-guided torpedoes to catapulted bombers to independent cruise missiles. These are some of the most ­influential steps along the way.

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WNU Editor: And these precision missiles are getting smaller .... Small Precision-Guided Weapons Will Revolutionize How The U.S. Infantry Will Fight In Future Wars (November 12, 2015).

Are The Mideast Wars Creating A Precision Missiles Crisis?

© AFP 2016/ ROMEO GACAD

Sputnik: Pentagon Warns Mideast Wars Creating Precision Missiles Crisis

Senior Department of Defense officials have complained, according to US media reports, that the current wars waged by the United States and its allies in Iraq, Yemen and Syria have depleted US reserves of precision guided missiles.

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — The current wars waged by the United States and its allies in Iraq, Yemen and Syria have depleted US reserves of precision guided missiles (PGM), senior Department of Defense officials have complained, according to US media reports.

"This issue has caught the attention of leadership inside the Pentagon, which has raised the need for faster PGM deliveries as an example of how the [foreign military sales] system needs reform," Defense News said on Friday, citing a financial study from Guggenheim Securities.

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WNU Editor: After using 20,000+ missiles since the start of this campaign .... you have to wonder if this air campaign is making a difference.

America's Allies Are Running Out Of 'Precision Weapons' In The Middle East

A U.S. Air Force F-16 drops a Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM). (U.S. Air Force)

Wall Street Journal: U.S. Military Working to Prevent Weapons Shortfall in Islamic State, Yemen Strikes

Airstrikes currently focusing heavily against targets that generate funding sources for Islamic State.

DUBAI—The U.S. military is working with Middle East allies to head off a potential shortfall in precision weapons which are being heavily consumed in strikes on Islamic State targets and Yemen, senior U.S. Air Force officials said Tuesday.

A key message regional allies have raised with U.S. officials is the need to replenish stocks of ammunitions and precision guided munitions, Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James said at the Dubai Air Show. “That’s one we are working pretty hard on,” she said.

Precision guided munitions are “pretty popular” in airstrikes carried out by the U.S. and allies, said U.S. Air Forces Central Command, Lt. Gen. Charles Q. Brown, Jr. The U.S. is taking steps to ensure it has the right weapons stocks. The Air Force also is trying to gauge future demand from partners by examining their weapons use rate, he said, “to be able to make sure everybody has what they need.”

Update: SecAf: Gulf Nations Raise Red Flags on Munition Levels (Defense News)

WNU Editor: I suspect that the workers in the factories that pump out these munitions are working overtime and in multiple shifts.

New PrecisiOn Missile Takes Out The Taliban While Leaving Civilians Unharmed

Damage limitation: The high-precision missile demolishes a fraction of the area that would have been flattened by a 1,000lb bomb

From The Daily Mail:

The Ministry of Defence has released the first cockpit footage of a new precision missile which can kill a Taliban fighter with such a small explosion that nearby civilians are unharmed.

The Dual Mode Brimstone guided missile is shown blasting a gunman who has dug himself a firing position or 'murder hole' in the base of a thick mud walled compound in the heart of a village in Afghanistan's Helmand Province.

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