Guided Missile

[cutled]

Greetings, I am a new user on a mission. As part of my research on the role of technological innovation on market consolidation and industry shakeouts, i have been assigned the task of understanding the evolution of missile guidance systems. I figured this would be a good site to ask around for more information and/or to better direct my efforts. Does anyone have any resources they could share as to the evolution of guided missiles (both ballistic and cruise?). Thanks

[revwardoc]

Can't tell you much, but the first truly effective guided missle was the German V-2 used during WWII. Its a good thing for England that the Germans didn't start using them when they were first developed in 1936 (too many problems early on then that little fracas started in 1939 delaying development). It wasn't until September 1944 that they hit their stride. From that point until March 1945 the Germans launched over 3100 V-2's at targets in Belgium, England, France, Holland, and even against US forces at Remargen, Germany. The only way to stop them was to win the war.

Of course if you really want to go back in history, the first "guided" missle was a rock thrown by some hominid some 6-7 million years ago at a rodent who became lunch. And we just got better at using weapons to kill animals, and each other, from there.