SMART BOMB DEFENSES ON THE WAY?

You don’t have to be one of the retired gen­er­als on cable TV to see how impor­tant precision-​​guided, “smart” bombs have been to the U.S. military’s recent suc­cesses. Laser– and satellite-​​directed muni­tions have allowed U.S. forces to tar­get indi­vid­ual build­ings in Baghdad or Kabul, with­out harm­ing the sur­round­ing neigh­bor­hood.
But a German firm says it has devel­oped effec­tive coun­ter­mea­sures to at least some smart bombs. And it’s about to sell these defenses on the open mar­ket, reports Jane’s International Defence Review (arti­cle avail­able only to sub­scribers).
The sys­tem, devel­oped by Buck Neue Technologien, uses a series of 32 decoy rounds, all fired within sec­onds, to dis­tract laser-​​guided muni­tions from their intended tar­get. (Bombs directed by satel­lite, like the Joint Direct Attack Munition, wouldn’t be affected.) The 81 mm decoys are filled with chaff, to stop radar-​​seekers, and red phos­phor, to cre­ate a cloud that blocks infrared light.
40% of the nearly 20,000 smart bombs dropped in Gulf War II were laser-​​guided. Such weapons have always been sus­cep­ti­ble to dis­trac­tion. Rain, dust, and smoke all can keep the bombs from reach­ing their des­ti­na­tions.
Buck Neue Technologien has already built a ver­sion of their bomb defenses for navies. It’s called Multi-​​Ammunition Softkill System, or MASS.
“We call (what MASS does) the Pamela Anderson effect,” explains com­pany CEO Armin Papperger, “which sim­ply means that we lure the hos­tile mis­sile sys­tem away from the actual naval tar­get… Just like Pamela Anderson turns a mans head, our decoys will lure the approach­ing mis­sile away from the actual tar­get.“
Papperger tells Jane’s that his com­pany has been “approached by ‘cer­tain very wealthy peo­ple in Asia’ who would have an inter­est in the capa­bil­ity offered by MASS to pro­tect their homes against mis­sile attack.”

August 11th, 2003 | Ammo and Munitions | Comments Off Both comments and pings are currently closed.