physics

Pave Knife

Pave Knife is a physics topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Pave Knife rather than just read about it. In short: The Ford Aerospace AN/AVQ-10 Pave Knife was an early targeting pod developed by the USAF and US Navy to designate and guide laser-guided bombs. Pave Knife was developed in 1969 to replace the original, essentially improvised Airborne Laser Designator (ALD) and TRIM pod (see A-6 Intruder).

Key takeaways

Pave Knife belongs to physics; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Pave Knife to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Pave Knife from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The Ford Aerospace AN/AVQ-10 Pave Knife was an early targeting pod developed by the USAF and US Navy to designate and guide laser-guided bombs.

Pave Knife was developed in 1969 to replace the original, essentially improvised Airborne Laser Designator (ALD) and TRIM pod (see A-6 Intruder). ALD was not a pod but a hand-held laser operated by the weapon systems officer to mark targets for Paveway laser-guided bombs. Pave Knife was a roughly banana-shaped external pod, weighing about 550 kg (1,200 lb), containing a steerable laser and closed-circuit television camera. The weapon systems officer or bombardier/navigator (BN) monitored the TV image with a small Sony TV in the cockpit and steered the laser onto the target with a hand controller, then passing the target information to the aircraft's gun sight. The Pave Knife bid was a firm fixed-price contract, involving design, development, and manufacture of one prototype, which was considered to be of vital nature due to the war in Vietnam. Ford Aerospace was known at that time as Philco-Ford, Aeronutronics Division, in Newport Beach, California. This facility was recognized for its strong engineering skills in electro-optics and image stabilization. During this time, Philco-Ford was producing the optical heat seeking section of the AIM-9 missile. A project manager convinced the company to invest (while the bids were being reviewed by the USAF) in creating the specifications for the subcontracts, selecting the subcontractors, preparing contract verbiage, and setting it up to be able to turn on all the engineering and procurement on the day after the winner of the bidding was announced. The remainder of the design, prototype fabrication and system integration was completed within budget, and on-time with delivery accomplished in an astonishing 6 months from the contract award date. The key subcontractors were Dalmo Victor in the San Francisco Bay peninsula who provided the night vision system. Another contractor provided a very complex power supply with multiple outputs to operate numerous system components, which had to be squeezed into a semi-oval shape to fit against the inner shape of the pod, with protrusions on the power supply to fit into whatever space was left after other components were designed in. Yet another provided the laser designator. All the subcontractors met their specifications, price, and delivery dates. When the pod was shipped to Florida for testing at Eglin Air Force Base, the system met specifications. It immediately entered testing and performed so well that within a few weeks, it was shipped to Vietnam and placed into service where it met objectives. McDonnell Douglas F-4D-31-MC, 66-7693, acted as the test-bed at the Armament Development Test Center, and the pod was carried on left inner wing pylon (Station 2), bolted on in an asymmetric configuration which typically included a 370 US gallons (1,400 L) drop tank on the starboard wing, plus up to two LGBs (on Stations 1 and 8), along with the regular fit of a centerline tank, Sparrows and ECM. The system used various technologies including image stabilization, night vision, target designation with a laser, and optical tracking to stay with moving ground targets. It had to withstand high G forces as well as very low and very high temperatures. A second jet with a laser-guided bomb using a guidance system provided by Texas Instruments would operate as a team with the first jet and drop the munitions. Pave Knife was used by F-4 Phantom II and A-6 Intruder aircraft in the attack role. It was used operationally in the Vietnam War; while it had its limitations, it validated the combat utility of laser-guided bombs. The Pave Knife was superseded by the later Pave Spike and Pave Tack systems, and is no longer in service. A dozen USAF F-4Ds of the 433d Tactical Fighter Squadron, all from Block 31, were wired for Pave Knife, a dozen of which pods were built and six deployed to Southeast Asia. Three were held in reserve and three were diverted to the U.S. Navy for use on A-6As of VA-145.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Pave Knife

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Pave Knife claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In physics, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Pave Knife before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Pave Knife ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Pave Knife

In research: Pave Knife appears in physics research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Pave Knife in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Pave Knife is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Equipment of the United States Air Force, Equipment of the United States Navy, Military electronics of the United States, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Pave Knife outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Pave Knife in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Pave Knife means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Pave Knife out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Pave Knife in simple terms?

The Ford Aerospace AN/AVQ-10 Pave Knife was an early targeting pod developed by the USAF and US Navy to designate and guide laser-guided bombs. Pave Knife was developed in 1969 to replace the original, essentially improvised Airborne Laser Designator (ALD) and TRIM pod (see A-6 Intruder).

Why does Pave Knife matter?

Because it connects several physics ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Pave Knife?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Pave Knife.