Laser Beam Riding
Beam riding guidance became more popular again in the 1980s and 90s with the introduction of low-cost and highly portable laser designators. A laser beam can be made much more narrow than a radar beam while not increasing the size of the broadcaster. Additionally, it is simple to encode additional information in the beam using digital means, which has a number of advantages. Missiles with small optical receivers on their tail can beam ride on lasers with similar ease as earlier radar beam systems, but will be inherently more accurate.
Additionally, as the beam is very narrow by design, less power is needed than a semi-active design where the volume of space being "painted" is generally larger, in order to ensure the missile body does not block all of the signal. This makes it more difficult to be noticed by the target's warning receiver. Very low power signals can be used.
In modern use, laser beam riding is generally limited to short-range missiles, both anti-air and anti-tank. Examples include the Starstreak, the RBS 70, MSS-1.2 and 9M119 Svir.
Read more about this topic: Beam Riding
Famous quotes containing the words beam and/or riding:
“Why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?”
—Bible: New Testament Jesus, in Matthew, 7:3.
From the Sermon on the Mount.
“Nobody dast blame this man.... For a salesman, there is no rock bottom to the life. He don’t put a bolt to a nut, he don’t tell you the law or give you medicine. He’s a man way out there in the blue, riding on a smile and a shoeshine. And when they start not smiling back—that’s an earthquake. And then you get yourself a couple of spots on your hat, and you’re finished. Nobody dast blame this man. A salesman is got to dream, boy. It comes with the territory.”
—Arthur Miller (b. 1915)