'''Network-enabled weapons''' are a class of air-to-ground precision-guided munitions that are being developed by a number of countries.<ref>{{cite web |last=Joint Test and Evaluation|title=Joint Command and Control for Net-enabled Weapons |url=http://www.dtic.mil/ndia/2007netcentric/Leibac_JC2NEW7Mar07.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071001011244/http://www.dtic.mil/ndia/2007netcentric/Leibac_JC2NEW7Mar07.pdf|url-status=dead|archive-date=October 1, 2007|publisher=Defense Technical Information Center|accessdate=27 August 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=World's First Net-enabled Weapon Completes Developmental Testing|url=http://www.thebaynet.com/news/index.cfm/fa/viewstory/story_ID/25973|accessdate=27 August 2012|newspaper=Baynet.com|date=25 January 2012|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120128113510/http://www.thebaynet.com/news/index.cfm/fa/viewstory/story_ID/25973|archivedate=28 January 2012}}</ref> A derivative of GPS-guided weapons, which are guided to a specific coordinate entered prior to release, network-enabled weapons have the additional ability to have targeting coordinates updated in flight through the use of a common datalink, and be tracked by aircraft and other platforms<ref name="ndiagulfcoast">{{cite web|last=Sanders|first=Keith|title=Network Enabled Strike |url=http://www.ndiagulfcoast.com/events/archive/32nd_symposium/day1/Sanders%20Keith%20AAC%20Brief%20OCT2006v1FINAL.pdf |publisher=National Defence Industrial Association}}</ref> logged into the same network.<ref>{{cite web|last=Koudelka|first=Benjamin|title=Network-enabled Precision Guided Munitions |url=http://www.au.af.mil/au/awc/awcgate/cst/bugs_ch03.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070221075227/http://www.au.af.mil/au/awc/awcgate/cst/bugs_ch03.pdf |url-status=dead|archive-date=February 21, 2007 |publisher=Air University|accessdate=August 27, 2012}}</ref> Previous weapons have used datalink to provide updated target information in flight (e.g. AMRAAM), but the creation of a common datalink allows control of the weapon to be passed from one platform to another, for example from an aircraft that launches the weapons to a ground party that is in visual contact with an enemy tank formation.
The concept for network-enabled weapons originated at the U.S. Air Force's Air Combat Command headquarters in 2003 as a solution to the problem of attacking moving targets in all-weather, high-threat environments. The Air Force's Air Armament Center refined the idea and in late 2003 declared network-enabled weapons to be the "single most cost effective means available for enhancing overall armament capability."<ref>{{cite journal |last=Taylor|first=Ron|title=Net-Enabled Weapons |journal=Intercom |date=December 2004|volume=45|issue=12|pages=11 |url=https://www.scribd.com/doc/1440647/US-Air-Force-AFD070205037 |accessdate=27 August 2012}}</ref>
An Advanced Concept Technology Demonstration was funded in 2005<ref>{{cite web |last=Rutledge |first=Linda |title=Weapons Datalink Network Advanced Concept Technology Demonstration |url= http://www.docstoc.com/docs/889206/NETWORKING-WEAPONS-Weapons-Data-Link-Network-Advanced-Concept-Technology-Demonstration |accessdate=27 August 2012}}</ref> to develop the miniaturized radio that would be needed and demonstrate the feasibility of the concept.<ref name="ndiagulfcoast" /> Subsequently, the requirements for the Small Diameter Bomb Increment 2 were modified to incorporate the capability.<ref>{{cite web |last=Staff Writers|title=Small Diameter Bomb II finds, hits moving target |url= http://www.spacewar.com/reports/Small_Diameter_Bomb_II_finds_hits_moving_target_999.html |publisher=Space War|accessdate=27 August 2012}}</ref> Later weapons incorporating this technology include the AGM-154 Joint Standoff Weapon (JSOW C-1) and the Turkish Air Force's SOM cruise missile.
==References== {{reflist}} Category:Guided weapons Category:Military communications