Air Weapons: March 1, 2004


The U.S. Army has developed and tested a new warhead guidance system that uses millimeter wave radar and infrared (heat sensing) capabilities in a single unit that is 5.5 inches in diameter and eight inches long. Combined with an on board computer, the new seeker successfully guided an unpowered bomb against a moving target during tests. The guidance system can contain a library of radar and infrared images that would identify potential targets. Using both the radar and infrared image, targets can be more precisely identified, especially when tracking a moving target. 

The seeker could be used on UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles) that would patrol an area, and release a bomb equipped with the same seeker to destroy any likely targets that appeared. The new seeker is called Eagle Eyes. The air force could also use the seeker on bombs also equipped with GPS so that the Eagle Eyes equipped bomb could be dropped from a high altitude and get to the general area of the target, where the shorter range Eagle Eyes could home in on the moving or stationary target. Such a small radar and infrared seeker has a short range (under a kilometer). 


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