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AGM-62 Walleye

The Walleye guided weapon system is designed to deliver a self-guided, high-explosive weapon from an attack aircraft to a surface target. The Walleye weapon is issued to the fleet as an all-up-round. The only assembly required at the organizational level is the installation of the wings and fins.
The weapons are grouped into three basic series: Walley I (small scale), Walleye II (large scale), and Walleye II Extended Range Data Link (ERDL). It should be noted that the Walleye II and Walleye II ERDL weapons are larger in diameter and length and weigh more than the Walleye I weapon. The Walleye II ERDL weapon also has larger wings.

Walleye I
The Mk 1 Walleye I tactical weapon consists of a guidance section, a warhead section (including the fuze and fuze booster), a control section, four wings, and four fins. The weapon has provisions for 14 and 30 inch suspension, and an ejector foot pad that is used to adapt the weapons to various types of aircraft bomb racks. The Walley I (series) weapons are in the 1,000-pound class weapons category.
To form a typical attack situation, the weapon, pilot, and aircraft must perform as a complete weapon system. The weapon uses aircraft electrical power, by way of an umbilical cable that connects the weapon to the aircraft, from the time electrical power is applied to the aircraft until the aircraft reaches a speed of approximately 180 knots. The automatic power changeover circuit in t;he weapon then switches the weapon to ram air turbine (RAT) generator power.
Basically, the guidance section of the weapon and the aircraft system form a closed-circuit television system. A television camera mounted in the nose of the guidance section provides a picture of the area forward of the aircraft and displays this information on a television monitor located in the cockpit of the aircraft. Additional circuits provide a cross hair grid on the pilot's television monitor, which is a pair of vertical and a pair of horizontal lines. This intersection of horizontal and vertical cross hairs (the square in the middle) defines the tracking area. By observing the video scene displayed on the television, the pilot is able to boresight the weapon and aircraft to acquire the target, initiate lock-on, and confirm weapon tracking.
After boresighting the weapon, selecting the proper fuze option., and achieving satisfactory lock-on, the pilot initiates release and escapes the target area. The weapon continues to track the target until it reaches the point of impact.
The Walleye I Mk 4 practice weapon is identical to the Mk 1 weapon except for the warhead and control sections. The warhead is entirely inert, does not contain a fuze or fuze booster, and has ballast to maintain weapon CG (center of gravity) compatibility with the Mk 1 weapon. This weapon is used for captive-flight, pilot training and for aircraft loading and ground handling training purposes. Four models of the Mk 4 weapon (Mod 1, Mod 4, Mod 6, and Mod 7), have a video tape recorder (VTR) that allows the pilot to make post-flight analysis of the attack sequence.
Walleye II
The Mk 5 tactical Walley II guided weapon consists of a guidance section, a fairing assembly, a warhead section (including the fuze and fuze booster), a control section, four wings, four fin adapters, and four fins. The weapon has provision for 30 inch suspension only and is in the 2,000 pound class weapon category. The Walleye II (series) weapons are essentially the same as the Walleye I weapons except they are physically larger in size and have improved electronics. Functional operation of the weapon and delivery tactics are basically the same as the Walleye I.
Walleye II ERDL
The Walleye II ERDL (Extended Range Data Link) guided weapon Mk 23 Mod 0, 1, and 2 consist of the same basic items as the Walleye II Mk 5 weapons. However, these assemblies have been modified to add new data link functions and extended range capability. The addition of the larger wings enables the weapon to be launched from linger slant ranges to a target complex.
The addition of the data link pod and a joystick controller on the aircraft provide for the weapon to be remotely steered to a specific target within the complex and impact with pinpoint accuracy.
The guided Weapon Control-Monitor Set provides the communications link between the pilot and the weapon. The pod is suspended from a standard Walleye configured bomb rack and can be jettisoned in an emergency. The pod contains the necessary electronics to allow the pod aircraft pilot to receive the transmitted video from the weapon and to transmit the command signals to the weapon. In addition the pod contains a video tape recorder that records the video transmitted by the weapon all the way to impact on the target. This allows low-cost weapon performance monitoring, which can be played back for mission evaluation or for training purposes.
The weapon system may be used in one or two-aircraft operations. In single aircraft operation, the aircraft carries both the weapon and the pod, which allows the aircraft to perform both launch and control functions,. In the two-aircraft operation, one aircraft carries the weapon and a second aircraft carries the pod. In this operation, both the launch aircraft and the pod aircraft receive a video picture of the target area from the weapon After weapon launch, the pod aircraft monitors the flight of the weapon and can update the weapon aim point all the way to impact. The two-aircraft operation predominates in tactical use because of the limited number of pods available. For example, a one-pod configured aircraft monitors the weapon control functions for several individual weapon launchings during one mission (not simultaneously). This is the purpose of the three different frequency channels. These different frequencies prevent the control section of the weapon from responding to override commands from a pod that is not set to that weapon's specific frequency channels. This allows more than one weapon/pod operation to be conducted in the same area.
The Walleye II ERDL Mk 27 Mods 3, 4, and 5 practice guided weapons provides captive flight, data link training for pilots of data link configured A-7 aircraft. The practice guided weapon contains the same data link components as the tactical Walley I ERDL Mk 23 weapon except that the warhead in the Mk 27 is filled with inert material.

Jirka Wagner