The US government has cleared Oman to be offered the Boeing Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) as part of a weapons package for 12 Lockheed Martin F-16C/D Block 50s recently ordered.
Production of the GPS satellite-guidance tail-kit is midway through a dramatic increase to renew US military stocks depleted by the war in Afghanistan.
"Between 20 and 25 countries have asked for price and availability," says Michael Hatcher, JDAM programme office director at the US Air Force Air Armament Center, Eglin AFB, Florida.
Added to 800 JDAM kits already delivered to Israel, Hatcher believes potential foreign military sales (FMS) mean that "as much as 80% of what we do could be FMS in five years or so".
JDAM production for the USAF and US Navy, originally scheduled to be around 800 a month, is now at 1,500 and will climb to "almost 3,000" by late 2003, says Hatcher.
Source: Flight International
