Man in the loop weapons vs GBUs

[WelshZeCorgi]

Are man in the loop weapons still relevant in the age of GBUs? Why would you use them if GBUs and LGBs are plenty?

[Archer.xd]

Abiliity to fire&forget, multiple guiding methods and longer ranges?

[WelshZeCorgi]

Fire and forget? How are man in the loop weapons fire and forget, you have to manual guide them in on terminal. 

[Archer.xd]

Not all of them. Like the AGM-84K. Give it a pre planned target and it'll hit from 150nm distance without any manual terminal guidance. Or the AGM-62WE, once you designate a target for it, you don't have to guide it manually.

[Dragon1-1]

Modern MITL weapons are a solution that you use when you need to hit a specific target from standoff range, typically from far enough that you can't see the target from the launch aircraft. You can target any geographic location without the need to guide them in terminal phase, but that doesn't help you if you don't have specific coordinates for whatever you're shooting. Satellites overfly the target at specific (and usually widely known) times, maps can be inaccurate and subsonic cruise missiles fly for long enough that your target (say, a transport plane being unloaded, or a train) might have moved in the meantime. MITL also allows you, should the coordinates be bad and the target wasn't there, to drive the missile somewhere where it wouldn't cause too much collateral damage. With a GBU, you can do all these things before launch, but you have to get fairly close to do so. Unfortunately, MITL isn't practical on artillery rockets and ballistic missiles (because there's usually no direct LOS to the target from anything you could put the control unit on), otherwise a lot of collateral damage problems with these could be solved.

Edited July 14, 2022 by Dragon1-1

[Emu]

On 7/13/2022 at 10:22 PM, WelshZeCorgi said:

Are man in the loop weapons still relevant in the age of GBUs? Why would you use them if GBUs and LGBs are plenty?

Very, not all airspace is sanitised, and firing missiles from altitude is therefore dangerous.  If a third party can lase the targets or pass co-ordinates, either from cover or via a disposable drone, then the missile can be fired from low altitude and go up and over.

[Dragon1-1]

Even better, a MITL missile doesn't need exact target coordinates. You just need to know the general area you're throwing it at. As long as the target is in the picture once the missile enters the terminal mode, the operator can recognize the target and direct the missile to it.

Lasing, BTW, doesn't seem to be a thing with cruise missiles. Not sure why, it'd have its uses with special forces and so on, but as it is now, ATGMs and laser guided tube arty rounds and bombs appear to be the primary applications. Maybe it's because MITL is more effective overall, and the cruise missile is already so expensive that relative cheapness of the laser guided system doesn't matter.

Edited July 24, 2022 by Dragon1-1