Beam-riding, also known as beam guidance, is a technique of directing a missile to its target by means of radar or a laser beam. It is one of the simplest forms of guidance using radar or lasers.

The main use of this kind of system is to destroy airplanes or tanks. First, an aiming station (possibly mounted in a vehicle) in the launching area directs a narrow radar or laser beam at the enemy aircraft or tank. Then, the missile is launched and at some point after launch is “gathered” by the radar or laser beam when it flies into it. From this stage onwards, the missile attempts to keep itself inside the beam, while the aiming station keeps the beam pointing at the target. The missile, controlled by a computer inside it, “rides” the beam to the target.

The radar beam rider method has been largely abandoned as a form of guidance for surface-to-air missile systems since it is easily detectable and inaccurate at long ranges. For example, though earlier versions of the RIM-2 Terrier missile that were introduced in the 1950s were "beam riders", later variants employed semi-active radar homing to improve their effectiveness against high-performance and low-flying targets.^[1]. On the other hand laser beam riders are in use and are difficult to detect by a warning receiver.^[2]

[edit] References

1. ^ [1] Target Designation Systems
2. ^ Richardson, Mark, and Al-Jaberi, Mubarak, "The vulnerability of laser warning systems against guided weapons based on low power lasers", Cranfield University, April 28, 2006

[edit] External links

• Jerzy Maryniak et al., "Modeling of Motion of an Automatically Controlled Beam-Riding Guided Missile in Terms of the Maggi Equations" (pdf), AIAA Atmospheric Flight Mechanics Conference and Exhibit, August 2005
• Missile Guidance, aerospaceweb.org, accessed March 14, 2007
• Greg Goebel, "Early Radar Technology", February 1, 2007, accessed March 14, 2007
• Carlo Kopp, "Man Portable Surface-Air Missiles", Australian Aviation, July, 1989
• Carlo Kopp, "Active and SemiActive Radar Missile Guidance", Australian Aviation, June 1982

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