THE US GENERAL Accounting Office (GAO) has upheld the US Air Force's selection of Lockheed Martin to produce 40,000 Wind Corrected Munitions Dispensers (WCMDs), worth $500 million.
Alliant Techsystems had contested the award, citing questions about the USAF's cost evaluation and raising some technical objections. Work related to the initial $22 million contract for the pilot production of 190 units had been suspended pending a GAO ruling.
The bomb kit, to be fitted to munitions dispensers for the combined-effects bomblet, Gatyor mine and sensor-fuzed weapon, eliminates the effects of wind drift using global-positioning-system data. The USAF plans to use the WCMD on a variety of aircraft, including the Boeing B-52H.
Source: Flight International
