Chinese Smart Bombs

November 10, 2008: China has been showing (at trade shows) a family of smart bombs. They look similar to the U.S. two decade old JDAM series. The Chinese smart bombs appear to be available for half ton bombs (the FT-1), and one version of the guidance kit has small wings, that enables the bomb to glide 15-20 kilometers to its target. There is a quarter ton bomb (FT-3) in development. These bombs apparently can be fitted with several types of satellite guidance (GPS, Russian GLONASS or the local Chinese system, in addition to the less accurate non-satellite inertial guidance system that JDAM also uses as a backup.) GPS guided bombs are not high tech anymore, although laser guided bombs are a little more tricky to design.