Bombs & Other Weapons

Paveway LGBs

The Paveway project involved more than 30 separate guidance, identification & navigation systems in an attempt by the USAF to improve the accuracy of tactical air-to-surface weapons. Paveway was initiated to aid the war effort in South-East Asia, the USAF's air-to-surface weaponry at the time being insufficiently accurate for operations in that region. Laser guidance research was managed by the Armament Development & Test Center at Eglin Air Force Base in cooperation with Texas Instruments, which manufactured the laser guidance system. The first prototype Paveway LGB was tested in April 1965, & by 1971 the Paveway I family of LGBs had expanded to eight different types, the three most important being the KMU-351 (based on the 2,000lb Mk84 bomb), the KMU-388 (based on the 500lb Mk82 bomb) & the KMU-421 (based on the 1,000lb Mk83 bomb). These were loaded onto aircraft in the same way as normal freefall bombs, requiring no electrical connection.

Paveway lasers operate at a frequency of 1.064 microns (like most other Western lasers do), & used Nd/YAG type lasers for guidance. Atlis II, LTDS, TRAM, GLLD, MULE, LTM, Lantirn & FLIR laser can also be used to designate targets for Paveway bombs.

The RAF used Paveway I Guidance Units on Mk13/18 1,000lb (454kg) General Purpose bombs, carried by Tornadoes & Jaguars. Other developments of Paveway in the UK include the integration of Paveway II systems with RAF bombs by Portsmouth Aviation (used in the Falklands by Harriers & Sea Harriers), & Paveway III, incorporating a BAe Dynamics Dart precision gyro.

Hunting JP.233

The Hunting JP.233 Runway Denial Weapon is one of the more successful weapons of its type. The JP.233 was originally known as the LAAAS (Low Altitude Airfield Attack System), & is essentially a series of bomblet dispensers which can carry several different types of parachute-retarded sub-munitions, including Anti-Personnel mines & pavement cratering bomblets. The LAAAS project was initiated in November 1977 as a joint project between the US & the UK, but the US pulled out in 1982. The JP.233 was intended for NATO-wide use, & as a result can be carried in different forms by different aircraft. For example, either short- or medium-length finned containers can be carried, two of each type by the F-111 & F-16, one pair (which must be of the same type) by the Jaguar & Harrier, & both types of payload in a single giant centreline pod on the weapon's most important carrier, the Tornado. The German MW-1 dispenser (the JP.233's main competitor) is inferior to the JP.233 in many ways, with higher drag & a lower payload than the JP.233.