by Technology Revolutionizing Modern Warfare
The development of precision guided munitions has revolutionized modern warfare. These technologically advanced weapons have greatly improved targeting capabilities, allowing military forces to engage targets with unprecedented precision and minimizing risks to civilian lives and infrastructure. Let’s take a deeper look at how precision guided munitions work and how they are transforming 21st century conflicts.
Guidance Systems Enable Pinpoint Targeting
At the heart of precision guided munitions are sophisticated guidance systems that direct weapons to intended targets with accuracy measured in meters or even centimeters. Early precision munitions relied on internal gyroscopes and basic inertial navigation to guide bombs to pre-programmed coordinates. However, newer weapons incorporate advanced GPS, infrared, radar and laser guidance to “see” targets and autonomously guide themselves to the point of impact.
Some precision weapons even employ tandem seekers that allow for mid-flight changes in targeting. For example, a laser-guided bomb may first home in on a pilot or operator’s laser designation but then switch to an on-board infrared camera to continue tracking an armored vehicle that emerges from cover. This dual-mode guidance gives military planners flexibility to update targets even after launch.
Minimizing Collateral Damage
By precisely engaging military targets while avoiding surrounding civilians and infrastructure, precision munitions aim to minimize collateral damage of warfare. Advanced seeker technologies and small explosive payloads allow surgically precise attacks on critical enemy assets like command centers, radar arrays and vehicles without leveling entire city blocks. Unlike unguided “dumb” bombs that rely solely on the luck of impact, guided weapons hit their targets with over 90% reliability according to the U.S. Department of Defense.
This capability is particularly important in urban combat zones where combatants mix with non-combatants. Rather than carpet bombing a densely packed neighborhood, a single laser-guided bomb or missile can destroy an sniper’s rooftop perch or disable an enemy technical without flattening the surrounding buildings. For humanitarian and legal reasons, reducing unintended casualties is a key benefit of precision weaponry.
Proliferation of Precision Systems
Originally developed by Western militaries, precision guided munitions are rapidly proliferating worldwide. Once only affordable to superpowers like the United States, precision capabilities are now within reach of smaller countries and even some non-state actors. China, Russia, Israel, India and other nations have invested heavily in PGMs in recent decades.
Driverless drones and loitering munitions extend precision reach even further. Unpiloted air vehicles can circle overhead for hours to precisely track and attack targets in real-time with little risk to human pilots. “Suicide drones” designed to destroy targets on impact grant attackers stand-off precision strike ability. With proliferating technologies, warfare tactics too are evolving as adversaries develop new doctrine around affordable precision weapons.
New Challenges Emerge
While precision armaments reduce indiscriminate destruction, they also create new challenges. One concern is how availability alters strategic deterrence calculations between opponents. If nations perceive less risk from precise strikes, they may feel empowered to threaten or act more aggressively. A related issue is how proliferation empowers non-state groups who acquire guided weapons outside international oversight.
Ethical targeting also grows more complex as combatants strive to limit civilian exposure. For example, destroying an armored vehicle risks harming its occupants, but letting it escape endangers more lives. Advance technologies alone do not remove human judgment from lethal decisions. New weapons also spur adaptations, like mobile camouflage that disguises targets. As always in warfare, evolution breeds counter-evolution on and off the battlefield.
Conclusion
While military development continues, the revolution of precision guided munitions has already redefined modern armed conflict. These advanced systems enhance targeting accuracy to accomplish missions with reduced unintended damage. Yet proliferation also spreads lethal capabilities more widely and alters strategic realities requiring continual ethical and policy examination. Precision weapons concentrate violence, but their balanced employment still depends on human wisdom in an increasingly technological domain of war.
*Note:
- Source: Coherent Market Insights, Public sources, Desk research
- We have leveraged AI tools to mine information and compile it
