gravity bomb
Noun: A gravity bomb is an unguided aerial bomb. Its flight path to the target is determined solely by the laws of ballistics and gravity after it is released from an aircraft. It lacks any internal guidance system, propulsion, or steering mechanisms to correct its course.
The term "gravity bomb" is used to specifically distinguish unguided, free-fall bombs from guided munitions like laser-guided bombs or GPS-guided Joint Direct Attack Munitions (JDAMs). * Modern aircraft still carry gravity bombs for certain missions where precision is less critical. * The development of smart bombs reduced, but did not eliminate, the military use of the simple gravity bomb. * The bombardier calculated the release point for the gravity bomb based on the aircraft's speed, altitude, and wind conditions.
- "Dumb bomb": An informal synonym for a gravity bomb, emphasizing its lack of guidance or "intelligence" compared to "smart" weapons.
- The older aircraft in the fleet could only deploy dumb bombs.
- The term can be used in historical contexts to describe any free-fall bomb used before the advent of precision guidance, or in contemporary contexts to describe specific unguided munitions still in inventories.
- Free-fall bomb: A near-synonymous term.
- Unguided bomb: A descriptive term equivalent to gravity bomb.
- Iron bomb: A colloquial term, often used by military personnel, referring to a basic, unguided gravity bomb.
- Unguided bomb
- Free-fall bomb
- Dumb bomb (informal)
- Iron bomb (colloquial)
- Guided bomb
- Smart bomb
- Precision-guided munition (PGM)
- "Laydown delivery": A bombing technique for gravity bombs where the weapon is released at low altitude with a delayed fuse to allow the aircraft to escape the blast.
- "Toss bombing": A maneuver where an aircraft releases a gravity bomb while climbing, giving the bomb a lofted trajectory to increase range or allow the pilot to evade defenses.
- a bomb that falls because of gravity and is not guided to a target