Smart weapon
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In military science, smart weapons refers to munitions equipped with guidance technology that actively seeks a target with little or no direction from a remote controller after the munitions are launched. Smart weapons originated as guided missiles, but include a generation of guidance systems for tactical weapons developed after the crude guidance systems fitted to early rockets.
Development of smart weaponry has included GPS-based guidance systems for common iron bombs that make up much the stockpile used in modern aerial bombardment campaigns. Fitted with guidance systems, an aircraft load of iron bombs can be directed to fall on pre-selected targets, allowing target selection cadres to avoid hitting unselected or civilian targets. The availability of targeted iron bombs in the Iraq War resulted in reduced reliance on mass bombardment tactics such as carpet bombing.
Western military forces at the start of the 21st century enjoyed a commanding lead over those of any other region or alliance in the development of smart weaponry. The spread of information processing technology, of high-speed increasingly lightweight computer processing technology and the growing availability of navigation algorithms suggests technology leaders might not long enjoy exclusive access to smart weapons.
If the spread of smart weaponry among competing geopolitical factions followed the patterns with which other new weapons were spread, more widely available smart weapon technology may fuel a race in which nations with dominant technology race to devise smart weapons to outsmart the smart weapons of opponents.