A fire-control system is a The tower of a personal computer (specifically a Power Mac G5). A computer is a device or machine for making calculations or controlling operations that are expressible in numerical or logical terms. Computers are constructed from components that perform simple well-defined functions. The complex interactions of these components endow... computer, often mechanical, which is designed to assist a weapon system in hitting its target. It performs the same task as a human firing a weapon, for example, an Archer may refer to: Someone taking part in archery. The surname Archer. British tank destroyer Archer. Seven ships of the Royal Navy named HMS Categories: Disambiguation ... archer or The word rifleman can mean:- A man with a rifle: see gunner or army. The New Zealand bird Acanthisitta chloris (alias) Titipounamu. See this link. Categories: Disambiguation ... rifleman, but attempts to do so faster and more accurately.

The original fire-control systems were developed for ships. When gunnery ranges increased dramatically in the late lead most of Latin America to independence. The Industrial Revolution continues and spreads, developments include the Rail Transport, telegraph, and telephone. The rebellion of Greece begins in 1821 which ultimately leads to its independence Belgium becomes independent in 1830 after a massive uprising against the Dutch. Leopold becomes the first... 19th century it was no longer a simple matter of calculating the proper aim point given the flight times of the shells. Increasingly sophisticated mechanical calculators were employed for proper gunlaying, typically with various spotters and distance measures being sent to a central plotting station deep within the ship. There the fire direction teams fed in the location, speed and direction of the two ships, as well as various adjustments for In physics, the Coriolis effect is a manifestation of inertia first described in full by Gaspard-Gustave Coriolis, a French scientist, in 1835. Formula The formula for the coriolis force is as follows. In this formula the arrow above the symbol indicates vector quantities, is the coriolis force, m is... Coriolis force, weather effects on the air, and other adjustments. The resulting directions, known as a firing solution, would then be fed back out to the turrets for laying. If the rounds missed, an observer can work out how far they missed by and in which direction, and this information can be fed back into the computer along with any changes in the rest of the information and another shot attempted.

Submarines were also equipped with fire control computers for the same reasons, but their problem was even more pronounced; in a typical "shot", the A modern torpedo, historically called a self propelled torpedo, is a self-propelled guided projectile that (after being launched above or below the water surface) operates underwater and is designed to detonate on contact or in proximity to a target. Torpedoes are weapons that may be launched from submarines, surface... torpedo would take several minutes to reach its target. Calculating the proper "lead" given the relative motion of the two ships was very difficult, and computers were added to dramatically improve the speed of these calculations.

By the start of Mushroom cloud from the nuclear explosion over Nagasaki rising 18 km (60,000 ft) into the air. August 9, 1945 World War II was a global conflict that started in 7 July 1937 in Asia and 1 September 1939 in Europe and lasted until 1945, involving the majority of the... World War II, aircraft altitude performance had increased so much that American troops man an anti-aircraft gun near the Algerian coastline in 1943 Anti-aircraft, or air defense, is any method of combating military aircraft from the ground. Various guns and cannons have been used in this role since the first military aircraft were used in World War I, growing... anti-aircraft guns had similar predictive problems, and were increasingly equipped with fire-control computers. The main difference between these systems and the ones on ships was size and speed. The The Kerrison Predictor was one of the first fully-automated anti-aircraft . As the power of the systems grew they eventually evolved into what is today known as motion control photography, a widely used technique in special effects filming. ... Kerrison Predictor is one example of a system that was built to solve laying in "real time", simply by pointing the director at the target and then aiming the gun at a pointer it directed. It was also deliberately designed to be small and light, in order to allow it to be easily moved along with the guns it served.

Simple systems, known as lead computing sights also made their appearance inside aircraft late in the war. These devices used a A gyroscope is a device which demonstrates the principle of conservation of angular momentum, in physics. The essence of the device is a spinning wheel on an axle. The device, once spinning, tends to resist changes to its orientation. The gyroscope was invented and named in 1852 by Léon... gyroscope to measure turn rates, and moved the gunsight's aim-point to take this into account. The only manual "input" to the sight was the target distance, which was typically handled by dialing in the size of the target's wing span at some known range. Small M*A*S*H This long range radar antenna (approximately 40m (130ft) in diameter) rotates on a track to observe activities near the horizon. . A similar effect imposes a specific maximum range as well. If the return from the target comes in when the next pulse is being sent out... radar units were added in the post-war period to automate even this input, but it was some time before they were fast enough to make the pilots completely happy with them.

Modern fire-control computers, like all computers, are digital. The added performance allows basically any input to be added, from air density and wind, to wear on the barrels and distortion due to heating. These sorts of effects are noticable for any sort of gun, and fire-control computers have started appearing on smaller and smaller platforms. Tanks were one early use, automating gun laying using a Soon after the invention of the laser in 1960, it was described as a solution in search of a problem. However, since that time, the laser has found a place as a useful tool in many scientific, military, medical and industrial applications. Scientific Spectroscopy Most types of laser are an... laser rangefinder and a barrel-distortion meter. Fire-control computers are not just useful for large A small cast-iron cannon on a carriage A cannon is a modern day rifled machine gun with a calibre of 20 mm or more (see autocannon). Cannon also refers to a large, smooth-bored, muzzle-loading gun used before the advent of breech-loading, rifled guns firing explosive shells... cannons. They can be used to aim A machine gun is a fully-automatic firearm that is capable of firing bullets in rapid succession. Overview M2 machine gun surrounded by spent shell casings Unlike semi-automatic firearms, which require one trigger pull per bullet fired, a machine gun will continue to fire bullets as long as the... machine guns, small cannons, , or MCLOS, in which the missile was directed via either radio control by an operator watching both the missile and the target. MCLOS relies on their being a high speed differential between the missile and the target, otherwise manually calculating lead becomes difficult. In the case of glide bombs missiles... guided missiles, A rifle is any long gun which has a rifled barrel. A rifled barrel incorporates two or more helical grooves in its bore which impart a spin upon the projectile (usually a bullet) as it travels down the barrel. The angular momentum thereby imparted to the projectile partially insulates it... rifles, The word grenade can mean:- The well-known hand grenade commonly used by soldiers. Tear gas grenades. These are often used for riot control. Stun grenades, also known as concussion grenades or flashbang grenades. These make blast only and no shrapnel. They are intended to stun without causing serious injury... grenades, A Redstone rocket, part of the Mercury program A rocket is a vehicle, missile or aircraft which obtains thrust by the reaction to the ejection of fast moving exhaust gas from within a rocket engine. Often the term rocket is also used to mean a rocket engine. In military terminology... rockets—any kind of weapon which can have its launch or firing parameters varied. They are typically installed on A ship is a large, usually decked watercraft. A ship usually has sufficient size to carry its own boats, such as lifeboats, dinghies, or runabouts. A rule of thumb saying (though it doesnt always apply) goes: a boat can fit on a ship, but a ship cant fit... ships, USS . Most major navies of the world employ submarines. Submarines are also used for marine and freshwater science and for work at depths too great for human divers. U-boat is the abbreviation for class nuclear powered military submarine of the U.S. Navy Submersibles In common usage, submarine means... submarines, An aircraft is any machine capable of atmospheric flight. Categories and classification Aircraft fall into two broad categories: Heavier than air Heavier than air aerodynes, including autogyros, helicopters and variants, and conventional fixed-wing aircraft: ) to provide both lift and thrust. The abbreviation VTOL is applied to aircraft other than... aircraft, The US M1A1 Abrams tank is a typical modern main battle tank. The turret is low-profile, well-integrated into the overall shape of the vehicle. A tank is a tracked and armoured combat vehicle (armoured fighting vehicle), designed primarily to destroy enemy ground forces by direct fire. A modern... tanks and even on some A rifle is any long gun which has a rifled barrel. A rifled barrel incorporates two or more helical grooves in its bore which impart a spin upon the projectile (usually a bullet) as it travels down the barrel. The angular momentum thereby imparted to the projectile partially insulates it... rifles, for example the Caliber: 5.56 x 45 mm NATO Action: Gas-actuated Weight: 3.6 kg (8 lb) empty 4.6 kg (10 lb) with launcher Length: 694 mm (27 in) Barrel length: 400 mm (16 in) Rate of fire: 850 rpm Magazine: 20/30/100-rd (any STANAG/M16 mag) The... Fabrique Nationale F2000. Fire-control computers have gone through all stages of technology that computers have, with some designs being based upon An analog computer (American English) or analogue computer (British English) is a form of computer using electronic or mechanical phenomena to model the problem being solved by using one kind of physical quantity to represent another. The term is used in distinction to digital computers, in which physical or mechanical... analogue technology and In electronics, a vacuum tube (American English) or (thermionic) valve (British English) is a device generally used to amplify a signal. Once used in most electronic devices, vacuum tubes are now used only in specialized applications. For most purposes, the vacuum tube has been replaced by the much smaller and... vacuum tubes which were later replaced with Photo of transistor types (tape measure marked in centimeters) Transistor in the SMD form factor The transistor is a solid state semiconductor device used for amplification and switching. It acts as a variable valve which, based on its input current (BJT) or input voltage (FET), was originally coined from the... transistors.

Fire-control systems are often interfaced with A sensor is a technological device or biological organ that detects, or censor, a person who decides what can be published censor, an ancient Roman political office censer, a utensil for incense Categories: Transducers ... sensors (such as The F70 type frigates (here, to the effect that military sonar may be inducing some whales to experience decompression sickness (and resultant beachings). High-powered sonar transmitters can kill marine animals. In the Bahamas in 2000, a trial by the US Navy of a 230 decibel transmitter in the frequency... sonar, M*A*S*H This long range radar antenna (approximately 40m (130ft) in diameter) rotates on a track to observe activities near the horizon. . A similar effect imposes a specific maximum range as well. If the return from the target comes in when the next pulse is being sent out... radar, infra-red search and track, laser range-finders, anemometers, A weather vane, also called a wind vane, is a movable device attached to an elevated object such as a roof for showing the direction of the wind. Very often these are in the shape of cockerels and are called weather cocks. Arrows are also popular, but a multitude of... wind vanes, A thermometer is a device used to measure temperatures or temperature changes. Kinds of thermometers There are many different thermometers relying on different principles. These include: Thermistors Thermocouples Mercury-in-glass thermometers Bi-metal mechanical thermometers Silicon bandgap temperature sensors Infrared thermometers Galileo thermometers See also Timeline of temperature and... thermometers, etc.) in order to cut down or eliminate the amount of information which has to be manually inputted in order to calculate an effective solution. Sonar, radar, IRST and range-finders can give the system the direction to and/or distance of the target. Alternatively, an optical sight can be provided and an operator can point it at the target, which is easier than having someone input it using other methods and gives the target less warning that it is being tracked. Typically, weapons fired over long ranges need the environmental information—the longer a Munition is often defined as a synonyn for ammunition. A slightly broader definition would include bombs, missiles, warheads, and mines (landmines, naval mines, and claymore mines) -- what munitions factories manufacture. These munitions are flung all over battlefields and war zones with lethal intent; unexploded ones may pose a hazard to... munition travels, the more the wind, temperature etc. will affect its trajectory, so the more important having accurate information becomes to getting a good solution. Sometimes, for very long-range rockets, environmental data has to be obtained at high altitudes or inbetween the launching point and the target. Often, satellites or balloons are used to gather this information.

Once the firing solution is calculated, many modern fire-control systems are also able to aim and fire the weapon(s). Once again, this is in the interest of speed and accuracy, and also in the case of a vehicle like an aircraft or tank, in order to allow the pilot/gunner/etc. to perform other actions simultaneously, such as tracking the target or flying the aircraft. Even if the system is unable to aim the weapon itself, for example the fixed cannon on an aircraft, it is able to give the operator cues on how to aim. Typically, the cannon points straight ahead and the pilot must maneuver the aircraft so that it points in the right direction before firing. In most aircraft the aiming cue takes the form of a "pipper" which is projected on the , seen through the HUD of another Rafale. Speed is 323 knotes, bearing 340. The Rafale in bearing one Magic missile, two MBDA MICA, and two external tanks. A Head-Up Display, also known as a Heads-Up Display or simply HUD, is a means of projecting information directly into a... heads-up display (HUD). The pipper shows the pilot where the target must be relative to the aircraft in order to hit it. Once the pilot maneuvers the aircraft so that the target and pipper are superimposed, he or she fires the weapon, or on some aircraft the weapon will fire automatically at this point, in order to overcome the reaction delay of the pilot. In the case of a missile launch, the fire-control computer may give the pilot feedback about whether the target is in range of the missile and how likely the missile is to hit if launched at any particular moment. The pilot will then wait until the probability reading is satisfactorily high before launching the weapon.

Rudimentary naval fire control systems were first developed around the time of Ypres, 1917, in the vicinity of the Battle of Passchendaele. Battle aftermath. Remains of the Chateau Wood World War I, also known as the First World War, the Great War, the War of the Nations, and the War to End All Wars, was a world conflict occurring from 1914 to... World War I. For a description of one, see US Naval Fire Control, 1918 (http://www.gwpda.org/naval/usnfirec.htm).

Once an engagement has begun, it is also possible for a fire control radar to track incoming fire, trace back the trajectories to their source, and produce the coordinates of an enemy unwise enough to fire ballistic rounds. This return-fire capability has been included in some systems since the 1970's. Returning fire to the location of the rounds' origin is known as counter-battery fire.

See also: Fire-control radar Counter-battery radar