beam-rider guidance

beam-rider guidance

[′bēm ‚rīd·ər ′gī·dəns]

(navigation)

A system for guiding aircraft or spacecraft in which a craft follows a radar beam, light beam, or other kind of beam along the desired path. Also known as beam bracketing; beam-climber guidance.

McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific & Technical Terms, 6E, Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

beam-rider guidance

Surface-to-air missile is launched and is gathered in a wide beam. Thereafter, it is guided onto the target by a narrow beam.

Smart bomb homes onto the target. In this case, laser beam helps the bomb to home onto the target.

A guidance system in which the equipment aboard the missile enables it to sense its location relative to a radar beam and correct its course, seeking out and following the path made by a radar beam. The missile is gathered in the beam and is guided onto the target continuously by the radar beam locked onto the target. Also called beam-climber guidance.

An Illustrated Dictionary of Aviation Copyright © 2005 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved