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Precision guided munitions have revolutionised modern warfare by enabling highly accurate targeting of enemy assets while minimising collateral damage. These smart weapons rely on precision guidance technologies to modify their trajectories in-flight towards designated targets. Their ability to engage targets with pinpoint accuracy from stand-off ranges has significantly boosted militaries’ capabilities. Let’s examine some key aspects of these modern precision strike weapons:
Guidance Technologies Driving Precision
Precision Guided Munition Market employ various guidance technologies such as inertial navigation, terminal homing and satellite guidance to precisely manoeuvre towards intended targets. Inertial navigation uses on-board sensors and computers to continuously determine the weapon’s position, speed and direction of travel based on gravitational and gyroscopic principles. Terminal homing switches on cameras, lasers or millimetre-wave radar seekers in the final phase of flight to identify and track specific targets. Satellite guidance incorporates input from global positioning systems or imaging satellites to correct the weapon’s trajectory according to target coordinates. These guidance methods enable dramatic improvements in accuracy compared to unguided munitions.
Weapon Platform Integration
Modern militaries integrate precision guided munitions onto various aerial, sea-based and ground launch platforms to deliver precision strikes at stand-off ranges from safety. Aircraft regularly employ laser, GPS/INS and electro-optical/infrared seeker equipped precision weapons. Bombs, missiles, glide weapons and loitering munitions expand aircraft flexibility. Naval vessels fire GPS/INS guided cruise missiles and projectiles from weapon modules or vertical launch systems. Artillery tubes and multiple rocket launchers deploy GPS/INS guided rockets, shells and extended range munitions. Unmanned combat aerial vehicles and ground systems also conduct precision strikes with loitering and cruise missiles. Platform versatility multiplies PGM effectiveness.
Day/Night, All-Weather Capability
Advanced seeker technologies enable precision guided munitions to engage targets regardless of lighting and weather conditions. Newer systems incorporate thermal imaging, millimetre wave radar and laser radar seekers optimized for day/night target identification. Multi-spectral targeting allows all-weather targeting by distinguishing camouflaged or concealed targets through vegetation, smoke, dust or precipitation. Electro-optical/infrared seekers effectively operate in darkness while radar helps “see” through obscurants. These all-weather, day-night precision strike abilities are a major asset in any combat environment and deny adversaries sanctuary from low visibility.
Minimised collateral damage and fratricide while shifting tactical and operational initiative against adversaries. The increasing affordability, miniaturisation and commonality of precision strike components additionally spread these capabilities to more proliferated weapon stocks and secondary combat units over time. While countermeasures race against effectiveness, precision guided munitions have indelibly changed modern warfare dynamics through their ability to deliver tailored kinetic effects via targeted precision engagement.
Benefits for Military Operations
The use of precision guided munitions in military operations brings many significant benefits compared to unguided weapons. Foremost is their ability to accurately engage specific targets like combat vehicles, bunkers, buildings or infrastructure while minimizing risks to civilian lives and property around the objective. This accuracy boost also reduces chances of friendly fire incidents through precise target identification. Precision weapons enable military forces to attack targets of high value and lethality that were previously inaccessible or posed too much risk with dumb bombs and artillery. Their use has
Proliferation and Affordability Drives Technology Adoption
As precision guidance technologies advance and production economies of scale kick in, the price tags of even advanced precision munitions are decreasing steadily. This improving affordability coupled with expanding domestic production capabilities have enabled wider proliferation of precision strike capabilities. Countries like China, India, Turkey, Israel and South Korea now field and even export indigenous precision weaponry. Smaller militaries too procure affordable precision systems for assured targeting ability well beyond their armouries’ throw-weight. Moreover, common seeker and guidance units built for one type of precision kit now enable rapid “precisionisation” of existing weapon stocks as well. Mass affordability will cement precision capabilities as a standard feature of future arsenals.
Regulating Precision Technology Spread
While precision weaponry’s military effectiveness is indisputable, their spreading availability has disquieted some regarding escalating risks of regional conflicts and arms races. There are also concerns about nations of concern potentially acquiring systems for extra-regional power projection. Thus, major exporters like US and allies employ controls to regulate their precision technologies’ transfers. Multilateral export control regimes like MTCR and Wassenaar Arrangement help frame guidelines on limiting sales of sensitive technologies. However, complete checks on foreign proliferation seem difficult as indigenous development alters technology flows. Overall, judicious regulation balanced with addressing legitimate defense needs remains prudent to stabilise impacts of precision revolution on strategic balances.
In conclusion, Precision Guided Munition Market have emerged as essential weapons of modern conflict through their unmatched targeted effects and risk mitigation. As technology evolves, their global availability will keep growing to cover wider militaries. While precision revolutionizes battlefield maneuvers, its larger strategic implications warrant calibrated diplomacy and controls to avert unintended escalations and access by dangerous state/non-state actors. Precision weapons are set to determine military tactical and operational dominance worldwide for the foreseeable future.
*Note:
1. Source: Coherent Market Insights, Public sources, Desk research
2. We have leveraged AI tools to mine information and compile it
