Manual command to line of sightManual command to line of sight (MCLOS or MACLOS) is a method for guiding guided missiles. With an MCLOS missile, the operator must track the missile and the target simultaneously and guide the missile to the target. Typically the missile is steered with a joystick, and its path is observed through a periscope-type telescopic sight.Semi-automatic command to line of sightSemi-automatic command to line of sight (SACLOS) is a method of missile command guidance. In SACLOS, the operator must continually point a sighting device at the target while the missile is in flight. Electronics in the sighting device and/or the missile, then guide it to the target. OverviewMany SACLOS weapons are based on an infrared seeker aligned with the operator's gunsight or sighting telescope.
Missile guidanceMissile guidance is a field of engineering, specifically guidance, navigation and control, dealing with the control of missiles and guided bombs. Missile guidance systems are designed to maximize the reliability and accuracy of these weapons, by improving the likelihood they reach their target.
Wire-guided missileA wire-guided missile is a missile that is guided by signals sent to it via thin wires connected between the missile and its launch platform using command guidance. As the missile flies, the wires are reeled out behind it. This guidance system is most commonly used in anti-tank missiles, where its ability to be used in areas of limited line-of-sight make it useful, while the range limit imposed by the length of the wire is not a serious concern.
ENTACENTAC ("Engin Téléguidé Anti-Char") or MGM-32A was a French MCLOSwire-guidedanti-tank missile. Developed in the early 1950s, the weapon entered service with the French Army in 1957. Production ended in 1974 after approximately 140,000 had been built. DevelopmentThe missile was developed by the French Government agency - DTAT (Direction Technique des Armements Terrestres) at the same time as the private industry SS.10.
Anti-tank guided missileAn anti-tank guided missile (ATGM), anti-tank missile, anti-tank guided weapon (ATGW) or anti-armor guided weapon is a guidedmissile primarily designed to hit and destroy heavily armoredmilitary vehicles. ATGMs range in size from shoulder-launched weapons, which can be transported by a single soldier, to larger tripod-mounted weapons, which require a squad or team to transport and fire, to vehicle and aircraft mounted missile systems.
HelicopterA helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forward, backward and laterally. These attributes allow helicopters to be used in congested or isolated areas where fixed-wing aircraft and many forms of short take-off and landing (STOL) or short take-off and vertical landing (STOVL) aircraft cannot perform without a runway.
Hughes Aircraft CompanyHughes Aircraft Company was a major American aerospace and defense contractor founded on February 14, 1934 by Howard Hughes in Glendale, California, as a division of Hughes Tool Company. The company produced the Hughes H-4 Hercules aircraft, the atmospheric entry probe carried by the Galileo spacecraft, and the AIM-4 Falcon guided missile.
InfraredForm of electromagnetic radiationA false-color image of two people taken in long-wavelength infrared (body-temperature thermal) radiationInfrared (IR; sometimes called infrared light) is electromagnetic radiation (EMR) with wavelengths longer than that of visible light but shorter than microwaves. The infrared spectral band begins with the waves that are just longer than those of red light (the longest waves in the visible spectrum), so IR is invisible to the human eye.
SS.10The Nord Aviation SS.10 was a MCLOS wire-guided anti-tank missile designed by the French engineer Jean Bastien-Thiry. In American service, the missile was called the MGM-21A. The missile entered service in 1955 with the French Army. It was used briefly by the US Army in the early 1960s. The missile ceased production in January 1962 after approximately 30,000 missiles had been built.
RTX CorporationRTX Corporation, formerly Raytheon Technologies Corporation, is an American multinationalaerospace and defenseconglomerate headquartered in Arlington, Virginia. It is one of the largest aerospace and defense manufacturers in the world by revenue and market capitalization, as well as one of the largest providers of intelligence services. In 2023, the company's rank in the Forbes Global 2000 was 79.Image intensifierAn image intensifier or image intensifier tube is a vacuum tube device for increasing the intensity of available light in an optical system to allow use under low-light conditions, such as at night, to facilitate visual imaging of low-light processes, such as fluorescence of materials in X-rays or gamma rays (X-ray image intensifier), or for conversion of non-visible light sources, such as near-infrared or short wave infrared to visible.*As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.