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There has been a lot said in the west about laser guided bomb kits where a laser sensor and manouvering portion is attached to a standard old iron bomb and tail fins are attached to make it a guided bomb... the problem is that while it helps use up old bombs it is not actually cheap because the seeker and guidance and manouvering components are expensive... however what they do is change an iron bomb from something that needs to be carried in enormous numbers by large numbers of aircraft per target to be sure of a hit, into a bomb that can be carried by a single aircraft and delivered with a good confidence of a hit on the first try... which actually makes it cheaper than dumb bombs because using dozens of aircraft and hundreds of dumb bombs is actually expensive too.
Being able to use existing dumb bombs of any type accurately enough to actually hit targets is an enormously potent capability... lots of targets in previous HATO conflicts were only damaged or not hit at all because there were not enough guided weapons available for the job... this system means existing old cheap bombs can be used, but it also means brand new cheap simple bombs can also be produced as well.
It has drawbacks... it is little use against moving targets, and in high winds near ground level I would expect precision performance would be negatively effected, but this is a day night all weather capable system... heavy fog... sand storm... monsoon rain... things that effect laser guidance and even GPS guidance wont effect these bombs, though observing the effects and deciding on follow up attacks might be problematic if you have to drop a bridge you can do so without seeing it... a Tu-22M3 with an FAB-5000 or FAB-9000 hitting a bunker complex would be a sight to see indeed...
Such systems applied to a CAS aircraft like an Su-25 would not only improve free flight bombing performance, but also free flight unguided rocket performance too... it was found with the upgraded versions of the Hind that laser range finders and ballistic computers dramatically improved the accuracy and effective range of unguided rockets of all types from the platform and cannon fire was improved in accuracy as well.
Fighting smart is saving money while still enjoying precision accuracy to get the job done first time.
Edit: Even when fighting terrorist enemies blatantly being supported by the west...
Being able to use existing dumb bombs of any type accurately enough to actually hit targets is an enormously potent capability... lots of targets in previous HATO conflicts were only damaged or not hit at all because there were not enough guided weapons available for the job... this system means existing old cheap bombs can be used, but it also means brand new cheap simple bombs can also be produced as well.
It has drawbacks... it is little use against moving targets, and in high winds near ground level I would expect precision performance would be negatively effected, but this is a day night all weather capable system... heavy fog... sand storm... monsoon rain... things that effect laser guidance and even GPS guidance wont effect these bombs, though observing the effects and deciding on follow up attacks might be problematic if you have to drop a bridge you can do so without seeing it... a Tu-22M3 with an FAB-5000 or FAB-9000 hitting a bunker complex would be a sight to see indeed...
Such systems applied to a CAS aircraft like an Su-25 would not only improve free flight bombing performance, but also free flight unguided rocket performance too... it was found with the upgraded versions of the Hind that laser range finders and ballistic computers dramatically improved the accuracy and effective range of unguided rockets of all types from the platform and cannon fire was improved in accuracy as well.
Fighting smart is saving money while still enjoying precision accuracy to get the job done first time.
Edit: Even when fighting terrorist enemies blatantly being supported by the west...
