The US Air Force is improving its Boeing AGM-130-powered stand-off weapon successfully used during Operation Allied Force, but has no plans to replace the examples used against Yugoslav forces, according to Frank Robbins, head of USAF precision strike weapons.
He says enough AGM-130s are in the production process to satisfy projected operational needs, allowing the USAF to use supplemental funds to give Boeing GBU-15 glide bombs improved accuracy through incorporation of the global positioning system. "We can do a lot more for the same amount of money by improving the GBU-15," he says.
More than half of the 200 AGM-130s available in April were used against targets during Operation Allied Force, but nearly 400 are on order from Boeing. After those weapons are delivered, Boeing must rely on foreign military sales to maintain the production line, but it recently lost competitions in Australia and South Korea.
Last month, the USAF successfully tested the AGM-130 with a more capable autopilot processor. After launch from a Boeing F-15E, the weapon, armed with a BLU-109 warhead, hit a reinforced concrete target at Eglin AFB, Florida, using a nearly vertical attack profile, maximising its penetrating capability. The processor upgrade will be installed on AGM-130s being delivered and retrofitted to units in the inventory.
Another upgrade for the AGM-130 is incorporation of the Honeywell inertial measurement unit used on the Boeing Joint Direct Attack Munition. Ground qualifications and captive flight tests are completed and a flight test is scheduled for this month. The IMU will also be incorporated in new production AGM-130s and retrofitted to existing weapons.
Source: Flight International
