The US military's confidence in smart bombs may have a fatal flaw

[rangerrebew]

The US military's confidence in smart bombs may have a fatal flaw
Story by insider@insider.com (Michael Peck) •


Precision warfare has been a central tenet of American strategy.

But perceptions that precision weapons are effective is a myth, a retired Army officer argues.

"Accurate strikes do not inherently mean effective," the officer told BI.

America loves smart bombs. Ever since World War II, precision warfare has appealed to what America sees as its strengths: High technology, efficiency and the ability to strike down its enemies with a minimum of harm to innocents.
 
But that's actually a myth argues Amos Fox, a retired US Army lieutenant colonel. Precision-guided munitions, or PGMs, are no more effective than conventional munitions in limiting collateral damage, and in some cases can make the damage worse.

 https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/the-us-militarys-confidence-in-smart-bombs-may-have-a-fatal-flaw/ar-BB1nQTRk?ocid=BingNewsSerp

[Smokin Joe]

IIRC, there were JDAMs filled with concrete dropped on the enemy during the Gulf War that limited damage to adjacent buildings, but had sufficient kinetic energy to take out the targeted building.

https://www.nytimes.com/1999/10/07/world/us-wields-defter-weapon-against-iraq-concrete-bomb.html

[PeteS in CA]

... a retired Army officer ...

Block of salt needed.

How accuracy is as bad or worse than inaccuracy eludes me. A miss damages people and things not intended. And even if the intended target is incorrect, accuracy still spreads damage to a lesser area, since "dumb" bombs usually are not dropped singly.

The "weakness" of "smart" bombs is that they are more expensive, and stocks thereof are smaller. In a conflict of significant duration those stocks will be depleted sooner than stocks of "dumb" bombs.

[Timber Rattler]

And the Russians have figured out how to jam the electronically guided munitions that are being used in Ukraine.