A brief study was made of some of the forces driving the move to Precision Guided Munitions (PGMs), including the quest for military effectiveness, combat experience, and logistic compression. PGMs cost from a few hundred to a few thousand dollars per Kg but are tens to hundreds of times more effective than conventional munitions. A year's peacetime plateau production of each US PGM can be carried by a few C-5 aircraft. Surge quantities of PGMs are within US airlift capabilities, taking some of the risk out of off-shore procurement. The improving capability of antiaircraft PGMs and the escalating cost of combat aircraft (50 to 100-fold in constant dollars since WW II) may bring into question the economic viability of manned attack aircraft. The same may be true to a slightly lesser degree for heavy armored vehicles. 14 refs., 5 tabs.