Also the name given to
laser-guided bombs used in the
Gulf War. The
bombardier would drop one of these things while pointing a
laser at the thing he wanted to hit, and would watch the
bomb cam in his cockpit as the
weapon adjusted its
fins to hit its target.
During the campaign, a few tapes of these cam transmissions were released to the media, who gave the requisite oohs and aahs at the ability of the Air Force to perform such a surgical strike.
A few years later, it came out that these smart bombs weren't as smart as had been implied. Depending on the specific model, anywhere from 10% to 30% of the bombs failed to hit their targets.