Correct, why anybody would like to take the changes on guiding a missile weapon that can go ballistic if the beam is interrupted by weather or fire smoke? Don’t “smart bombs” produce enough side casualties already?
The E Maverick was developed based on a request from the USMC in the 1980s for a CAS variant of the Maverick. The SALH guidance offers two real advantages in this role.
- It allows a JTAC/FAC with a laser designator to guide a weapon to their intended target directly.
- It allows the aircraft to engage targets such as bunkers/trenches/specific building parts that do not provide enough contrast for other maverick variants to lock on to.
Also, compared to LGBs of the era, it offers some form of standoff.
That said, I agree that I would prefer the fire and forget functionality of the other maverick variants just about any other job than CAS.