Editing Kerrison Predictor (section)

[[File:M5 director.jpg|thumb|right|The Singer M5 was the US version of the Kerrison Predictor. The sighting telescope is near the top, with the elevation handwheel below it and the range handwheel at the right. A second telescope is on the opposite side, not visible here, along with the azimuth handwheel.]]

The '''Kerrison Predictor''' was one of the first fully automated [[anti-aircraft]] [[fire-control system]]s. It was used to automate the aiming of the [[British Army]]'s [[Bofors 40 mm Automatic Gun L/60|Bofors 40 mm gun]]s and provide accurate lead calculations through simple inputs on three main [[wiktionary:handwheel|handwheels]].

The predictor could aim a gun at an aircraft based on simple inputs like the observed speed and the angle to the target. Such devices had been used on ships for gunnery control for some time, and versions such as the [[Vickers range clock|Vickers Predictor]] were available for larger anti-aircraft guns intended to be used against high-altitude bombers. Kerrison's [[analog computer]] was the first to be fast enough to be used in the demanding high-speed low-altitude role, which involved very short engagement times and high angular rates.

The design was also adopted for use in the [[United States]], where it was produced by [[Singer Corporation]] as the '''M5 Antiaircraft Director''', later updated as the '''M5A1''' and '''M5A2'''. The '''M6''' was mechanically identical, differing only in running on UK-style 50&nbsp;Hz power.