smart weapon definition of smart weapon in the Free Online Encyclopedia.

smart weapon, missile or steerable bomb equipped with a laser laser [acronym for light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation], device for the creation, amplification, and transmission of a narrow, intense beam of coherent light .
..... Click the link for more information. , television television, transmission and reception of still or moving images by means of electrical signals, especially by means of electromagnetic radiation using the techniques of radio and by fiberoptic and coaxial cables.
..... Click the link for more information. , or satellite guidance system. Smart weapons, which use guidance systems that rely on external assistance, are distinguished from brilliant weapons, which are totally self-guided. In the case of a smart bomb with a laser guidance system, an aircraft pilot aims a laser beam at the target, a computer computer, device capable of performing a series of arithmetic or logical operations. A computer is distinguished from a calculating machine, such as an electronic calculator , by being able to store a computer program (so that it can repeat its operations and make
..... Click the link for more information. keeps the beam locked on the target, and the bomb has a sensor programmed to find the reflection of the laser's light. A guidance computer adjusts the path of the bomb after it is released, using movable fins to steer. A television guidance system uses a television camera in the nose of the weapon to lock onto the image of the target identified by the pilot. Satellite-guided bombs have guidance computers that use signals from navigation satellites to confirm that they are on target; the tail fins are adjusted to control the bomb's course as it falls. Cruise missiles cruise missile, low-flying, continuously powered offensive missile designed to evade defense systems. Although the German V-1 (1944) was a simple cruise missile, the cruise missile did not realize its potential until the 1970s, when the United States sought to
..... Click the link for more information. also utilize information from navigation satellites to maintain a proper course during flight. Extensions of smart-weapon technology are off-road mines that can "listen" for moving vehicles and attack them, "thinking" antipersonnel mines that are activated or deactivated automatically after a set period of time, and missile and artillery fire targeted by space-based intelligence-gathering satellites.