The AGM-62 Walleye
The Martin Marietta AGM-62 Walleye, although designated as an air-to-ground missile (AGM), was actually an unpowered glide bomb guided to its target by a television camera attached to its nose.
The pilot’s television screen received a picture of the target from the Walleye’s camera. The pilot fired the weapon after he “locked” onto the target. The Walleye’s onboard guidance system adjusted its direction by independently comparing the locked image with the current image. The Walleye was dubbed a “fire and forget” weapon since the pilot did not have to control the bomb to the intended target.
When a target was well-contrasted with its surroundings, walleyes had no issue hitting it; they struggled when the contrast was not enough. In addition, the weapon’s light weight rendered it useless against structures like bridges.
Using a $40K precision weapon to take out a $2K broken-down pickup truck
The AGM-62 worked well against pickup trucks, as David Tussey, former US Navy A-7E Corsair II, explains on Quora;
‘When I first joined Naval Aviation, a number of senior pilots had flown in Vietnam. They flew A-7s, A-4s, and A-1s(!) on ground attack missions.
‘One A-7 guy told me this story of being diverted from his primary mission (due to weather) and was handed off to a Forward Air Controller (FAC). He was instructed to destroy a broken-down pickup truck that was blocking a road intersection.
‘The only weapon he had was a TV-guided precision weapon, the AGM-62 Walleye.
‘And so, it went…he targeted the broken-down pickup truck with the Walleye, and destroyed it.’
Tussey Concludes;
‘So…we took a precision weapon costing about $40K and in short supply, and took out a $2K broken-down pickup truck. Good grief!
‘But it was a good example of pretty specific targeting — a single truck.’
Photo by U.S. Navy
