A glide bomb or stand-off bomb is a standoff weapon with flight control surfaces to give it a flatter, gliding flight path than that of a conventional bomb without such surfaces. This allows it to be released at a distance from the target rather than right over it, allowing a successful attack without exposing the launching aircraft to anti-aircraft defenses near the target. Glide bombs can accurately deliver warheads in a manner comparable to cruise missiles at a fraction of the cost, sometimes by installing flight control kits on simple unguided bombs, and they are very difficult for surface-to-air missiles to intercept due to their tiny radar cross sections and short flight times. The only effective countermeasure in most cases is to shoot down enemy aircraft before they approach within launching range, making glide bombs very potent weapons where wartime exigencies prevent this. World War II-era glide bombs like the German Fritz X and Henschel Hs 293 pioneered the use of remote control systems, allowing the controlling aircraft to direct the bomb to a pinpoint target as a pioneering form of precision-guided munition. Modern systems are generally self-guided or semi-automated, using GPS or laser designators to hit their target. The term "glide bombing" does not refer to the use of glide bombs, but a style of shallow-angle dive bombing.
Early efforts
German designs
World War I In October 1914, Georg Wilhelm von Siemens suggested what became known as the Siemens torpedo glider, a wire-guided flying missile that would essentially have comprised a naval torpedo with an attached airframe. It was not intended to be flown into a target, but rather at a suitable altitude and position, a signal would be transmitted, causing the airframe components to detach from the torpedo, which would then enter the water and continue towards its target. Guidance signals were to be transmitted through a thin copper wire, and guide flares were to be carried to help control. Siemens-Schuckertwerke was already occupied with remote-controlled boats (the FL-boats or Fernlenkboote), and had some experience in this area. Flight testing was performed under the supervision of an engineer with the surname Dorner from January 1915 onwards, using airships as carriers and different types of biplane and monoplane glider airframes to which a torpedo was fitted. The last test flight was performed on February 8, 1918. It was planned to use the Siemens-Schuckert R.VIII bomber as a carrier craft, but the Treaty of Versailles stopped the project.
World War II
Development During World War II, the first operational glide bombs were developed by the Germans as anti-ship weapons. Ships are typically very difficult to attack: A direct hit or an extremely near miss is needed to do any serious damage, and hitting a target as small as a ship was difficult in this period. At first, dive bombers were used with some success in this role, but their successes were countered by ever-increasing anti-aircraft defenses on the Royal Navy ships they were attacking. By 1941, accurate bombing was as difficult as ever, with the added problem of evading anti-aircraft fire. The German solution was the development of a number of glide bombs employing radio control guidance. One was created by fitting a control package on the rear of an otherwise standard bomb, starting with their 1400 kg armor-piercing bomb to create the Ruhrstahl SD 1400, commonly called Fritz X. This weapon was designed specifically to pierce the deck armor of heavy cruisers and battleships. The bomb aimer dropped the bomb from high altitude while the aircraft was still approaching the ship, and guided it to impact with the target by sending commands to spoilers attached to its rear. This proved to be difficult to do, because as the bomb dropped toward the target it fell further behind the launch aircraft, eventually becoming difficult to see. This problem was solved by having the launch aircraft slow down and enter a climb to avoid overtaking the bomb as it fell. In addition, it proved difficult to properly guide the bomb to impact as the angle of descent changed, and if the bomb was not aimed accurately so as to end up roughly right over the target, there was little that could be done at later stages to fix the problem. Nevertheless, the Fritz X proved useful with crews trained on its use. In test drops from 8,000 m (26,000 ft), experienced bomb aimers could place half the bombs within a 15 m (49 ft 3 in) radius and 90% within 30 m (98 ft 5 in). Design work started as early as 1939, and a version of the guidance package mounted to standard 500 kg bombs was tested in September 1940. It was found that the bomb was unable to penetrate a ship's armor, so changes were made to fit an armor-piercing warhead before the system finally entered service in 1943. The basic A-1 model was the only one to be produced in any number, but developments included the B model with a custom armor-piercing warhead, and the C model with a conical warhead designed to hit the water short of the ship and then travel a short distance underwater to hit the ship below the waterline. The guidance system for the Hs 293 series was the same as the Fritz X unpowered munition; it used a Funkgerät FuG 203 Kehl radio control transmitter with a single two-axis joystick in the deploying bomber, and an FuG 230 Straßburg receiver in the munition.
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