Most of us are old enough to remember the first ever news reports featuring first-person perspective footage of precision bombs hitting their targets in Iraq more than two decades ago.
A grainy, black-and-gray image of a building or a hangar would increase in size, drawing closer and closer until finally, the signal would cut off to fuzz.
Mentally visualizing the implications of that fuzz was more compelling than the explosions and scenes of destruction themselves — which we also got to see plenty of during that conflict.
Perhaps the most iconic sequence of all involved a laser-guided bomb hitting a four-lane bridge, as seen from the targeting camera of the bomber passing overhead.
I still cringe watching it more than 20 years later, anticipating the blast as each car slips through the crosshairs and imagining what the last one to make it through alive will witness in his rearview mirror.
The Quest for Accuracy
Between the end of World War II and the start of the First Gulf War, the number of bombs required to destroy a strategic target decreased by orders of magnitude.
Single light aircraft could do the work of formations of bombers and make it home to do it all over again, around the clock and in any weather.
However, even with innovations like laser and GPS guidance for free-fall bombs such as the GBU-12 and GBU-16, certain problems did remain — with accuracy remaining the biggest hurdle.
First- and second-generation precision guidance packages — commonly referred to as Paveways after the brand name given to the ubiquitous snap-on kits by their producer, Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) — were a vast improvement over the area bombing techniques of WWII. Still, they only yielded a practical CEP (circular error probable) of 9.1 meters, or 30 feet.
That means 90% or more of munitions equipped with this package, dropped under acceptable conditions, will land within 30 feet of the desired aimpoint.
This was a marked improvement over the WWII numbers, which estimated that fewer than 20% of bombs dropped struck within 1,000 feet (300 meters), but it was still not ideal.
Big buildings like hangars, or large targets like parked airplanes, were still on the menu, but for smaller objects, multiple drops and large warheads (up to 5,000 lbs.) were implemented to ensure destruction.
Well, as you may imagine, that problem has come a long way towards being solved.
From Feet to Inches
CEP achieved by modern guidance packages has shrunken down past the magical 1-meter barrier — even on moving targets — ushering in the second revolution in aerial munitions since the Second World War.
In 1991, a single F117 Nighthawk would have been able do the damage it took 108 B17s to do to a German power plant in 1944.
And today, a single F/A18F Super Hornet, armed with up to 16 of the 21st century GBU-39 Small Diameter Bombs (SDBs), effectively quadruples the precision striking power of the early ’90s F117.
No matter what technology we’re talking about, the name of the game is always miniaturization — and the SDB comports with this rule perfectly.
At 285 lbs., 70 inches long, and 7.5 inches across, this compact munition carries just 38 lbs. of high explosive — less than 20% of the amount filling the most common free-fall bomb in the U.S. arsenal and the basis for the most commonly used laser- and GPS-guided JDAM smart bomb: the MK 82 500 lb. bomb.
It’s less explosive and more focused on precise delivery, and the end product is a small, extremely maneuverable weapon capable of striking moving targets the size of a small car traveling at 30 miles per hour from 45 miles away.
The SDB was even further improved with the introduction of the “Focused Lethality Munition,” or FLM, which used composite materials in place of the traditional steel casing, except on places solely reserved for direct contact with or exposure to the target.
Less fragmentation means less unintended damage and injury.
Weapons such as this have allowed for low-risk attacks on high-value targets in urban areas, decreasing the danger to friendly ground forces and maximizing the element of surprise.
More Focus = Less Collateral Damage
The Small Diameter Bomb uses a variety of guidance technologies in unison, combining GPS, infrared, and inertial guidance to seamlessly overcome deficiencies inherent in any single targeting method.
It’s small, it’s modular, it’s universally applicable, and it can be configured to defeat soft and sensitive targets, as well as tackle heavily fortified objectives (like the reinforced concrete bunker below).
In spirit, its versatility and elegance (given the task) is almost reminiscent of the iPod — which speaks well for its design concept.
The company producing this weapon is Boeing Integrated Systems, a subsidiary of The Boeing Company (NYSE: BA).
I always talk about trends and being able to spot them; well, based on the design philosophy of the SDB, this one’s a clear winner by any measure.
The reality is that in this world of ours, war is about as recession-proof as it gets.
At least with innovations such as this, the goals of war can be achieved with the least possible risk to those caught in the crossfire.
To your wealth,
Brian Hicks
Check us out on YouTube!Brian is a founding member and President of Angel Publishing. He writes about general investment strategies for Wealth Daily and Energy & Capital. For more on Brian, take a look at his editor’s page.
