E43 – The Laser-Guided Bomb

Sign up for our ⁠newsletter, where we drop weekly knowledge bombs to help you make sense of defense! Speaking of knowledge bombs, Mike hosts Ed Cobleigh to talk about Paveway: the laser-guided bomb. Ed flew 375 combat missions during the Vietnam War in the F-4 Phantom and was one of the first people to drop the Paveway laser-guided bomb in combat. He earned two Distinguished Flying Crosses and went on to attend Fighter Weapons School, where he remained in order to stand up the guided weapons division and teach Paveway LGB employment. Ed’s had a wild life beyond the Air Force and is now an author with 5 books (and counting). This episode covers not just the tech and tactics but also a first-person account of dropping LGBs in combat 56 years ago!   ---- Links • ⁠newsletter⁠⁠! • Support us on ⁠⁠Patreon⁠⁠! • ⁠Mike Benitez (LinkedIn)⁠ • ⁠Ed’s website⁠ • ⁠Ed’s books on Amazon⁠ ---- Follow us on... • ⁠⁠⁠LinkedIn⁠⁠ ⁠• Instagram⁠⁠ • ⁠⁠X⁠⁠ • ⁠⁠Facebook⁠⁠ • ⁠⁠Website⁠⁠   ---- Show Notes 00:34 intro 01:58 How Ed got to Vietnam 02:31 background of guided bombs 03:35 Paveway history 07:19 Project White Lightning 09:03 the first laser designator 10:19 Dropping the LGBs 12:15 results from the first tests 14:00 training for the first LGB drop 15:04 Zot nickname 17:49 Ed's 2nd tour 20:17 Navy gets Paveway 22:21 teaching LGBs at Nellis 23:45 Red Flag 25:16 Targeting Pods 26:57 Linebacker 1972 27:56 Dragons Jaw Bridge 29:51 Paveway’s legacy 30:46 F-117 and Paveway 32:37 Paveway III 34:29 Paveway lawsuit 35:26 Ed's books 37:45 outro For those interested in #military #nationaldefense #warfare #nationalsecurity #defense #nationaldefense #tech #technology #defensetech #army #navy #airforce #innovation #F4 #vietnam #aviation #airplanes #aerospace