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.
