“Unveiling the Secrets: How Innovations in Technology are Redefining the Future of Precision Weaponry”
Drop tests of the Pelican began in December 1942 at Naval Air Station New York, but while the weapon proved moderately successful – hitting its target in about half of launches – the range of the radar guidance beam was found to be too short, putting the launching aircraft at risk of being spotted and fired upon. Thus, in 1944, the Pelican was cancelled in favour of a more sophisticated version using active radar guidance, which was designated the Special Weapons Ordnance Device or SWOD Mk.9 Bat. Unlike the other weapons covered in this video, the Bat was a truly autonomous âfire and forgetâ weapon, requiring no outside guidance commands after launch. Instead, it used an active radar system in a nose-mounted dome to home in on its target.
The Bat began developmental testing in the summer of 1944 at the Naval Ordnance Test Station at Chincoteague Island, Virginia, and was declared combat-ready in January 1945. Though many aircraft were modified to launch the Bat, including the Vought F4U Corsair fighter and Grumman TBF Avenger torpedo bomber, the weapon was mainly deployed aboard Consolidated PB4Y Privateer naval patrol aircraft. The Bat was first used in combat in April 1945 off Borneo, successfully damaging or sinking several Japanese ships including the coastal defence vessel Aguni. Like the AZON, the Bat was also used to attack bridges along the Burma Railway, though in this role it was considerably less successful as its relatively primitive radar guidance system was easily confused by ground clutter and other interference. Indeed, when used against ships close to shore, the Bat tended to veer off target and home in on other large objects like docks, hills, and mountains. Consequently, though 2,600 Bats were produced and deployed, relatively few were actually launched before warâs end. Nonetheless, it was the first fully-autonomous self-guided weapon to be deployed in combat, and set the template for guided weaponry for decades to come. Today, precision-guided bombs and missiles, steered by radio, radar, laser beams, or even GPS, can hit targets just a few metres across from altitudes of thousands of metres and ranges of hundreds of kilometres – a far cry from the indiscriminate area bombing tactics of the Second World War.
