Radio-guided bomb (Fritz X and Hs 293)
Bomba guiada por radio (Fritz X y Hs 293)
- Date
- 1943 · confidence high
- Place
- Brackwede, Bielefeld, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany
- Credited to
- Max Kramer (Ruhrstahl) and Herbert Wagner (Henschel)
- Field
- Conflict
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What it is
Aerial bombs with radio-controlled fins that the bombardier steered to the target with a joystick and tracking flares. On 27 August 1943 an Hs 293 sank HMS Egret, the first warship destroyed by a guided weapon, and on 9 September the Fritz X sank the Italian battleship Roma.
The Hs 293 (a rocket-powered glide bomb) was earlier in combat; guided weapons have precedents (Whitehead's torpedo, First World War glide bombs). The location given is that of the Ruhrstahl factory.
What it led to
- television- and laser-guided bombs
- air-to-surface missiles
- guided anti-ship weapons