Assault Breaker was a Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) program begun in 1978 to integrate a number of technologies including lasers, electro-optical sensors, microelectronics, data processors and radars important for precision guided munitions (PGMs).
7-409: Assault Breaker was conceived to attack moving, rear echelon armor massed deep behind enemy lines. At the time the program commenced the only means for attacking these targets was by the use of manned, penetrating aircraft. The perceived advantage of Assault Breaker was that it would permit attacking these targets with standoff weapons . Assault Breaker was conceived to obtain a uniquely high kill rate at
14-502: A distance sufficient to allow attacking personnel to evade the effect of the weapon or defensive fire from the target area. Typically, they are used against land- and sea-based targets in an offensive operation. The name is derived from their ability to engage the target while standing off outside the range at which the defenders are likely to engage the attacker. Typical stand-off weapons include cruise missiles , glide bombs and short-range ballistic missiles . Standoff missiles belong to
21-516: A much smaller risk and cost than existing tactics permitted. United States Department of Defense officials believed that Assault Breaker's fire rate could destroy in a few hours sufficient vehicles in Warsaw Pact reinforcement divisions to prevent their exploiting a breakthrough at the forward edge of battle area . Two modes of delivering Assault Breaker munitions were considered, ground-launched and air-launched missiles. Assault Breaker involved
28-684: The Brilliant Anti-Tank (BAT) submunition, which used acoustic sensors on its wings to detect and target tanks. DARPA's Assault Breaker II is designed to stunt through multi-domain operations adversaries' advances early in a conflict, similar to the original Assault Breaker program. It is a set of "new warfighting operational constructs based on new and emerging technologies and capabilities" and reportedly would focus on ships, air defenses, headquarters, tanks, supply depots, and other critical assets. Standoff missile Standoff weapons are missiles or bombs which may be launched from
35-705: The Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System (JSTARS), which integrated PGMs with advanced intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) systems developed with DARPA support; the Global Hawk unmanned aerial vehicles; a United States Air Force air-to-ground missile with terminally guided submunitions; the Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS), which featured all-weather, day/night capability effective against mobile and other targets; and
42-466: The use of an airborne radar, airborne or surface launchers, strike missiles with submunition dispensers, self-guided submunitions that are dispensed over the target and a communications, command and control network to link the target acquisition, data transmission and strike functions. The program had four phases: The major technological features had been demonstrated by the DARPA program, proof of concept
49-477: Was established and a decision could have been made to enter full scale engineering development if the services had adopted Assault Breaker as a system. DARPA outlays for Assault Breaker and related previous studies from project records appear to have been about $ 155 million; for Pave Mover about $ 50 million. Over a four-year period, Assault Breaker laid the technological foundation for several smart-weapon systems that were ultimately fielded. Among these systems were
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