THE US AIR FORCE has begun separation tests of the tri-service Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) from a Rockwell B-1B bomber at Edwards AFB, California.
The first three McDonnell-Douglas (MDC)-built JDAMs, modified Mk84 1,000kg blast-fragmentation bombs fitted with global-positioning-system (GPS) receivers, inertial-navigation systems and guidance fins, were dropped on 11 January.
The drop marks the first JDAM release from a USAF aircraft, the only previous one being from a US Navy MDC F-18 at NAS Patuxent River, Maryland, on 26 July, 1995.
B-1B JDAM programme manager Maj Rich Stuckey says that the initial drop by the 419th Flight Test Sqn met "...all test objectives and verified safe release from the aircraft". The three weapons were released on three separate passes from a height of 6,500ft (2,000m) at a speed of 510kt (950km/h) or around Mach 0.85. Stuckey says that the test series will advance "...hopefully to where we can increase dynamic pressure and drop from 500ft and Mach 0.9". Three more sorties are planned this month before the start of a full-integration test phase in 1997.
Development and testing for the B-1B will run from 1997 into 1998 and involve 105 flights, during which 42 JDAMs are expected to be dropped. The first scheduled drop of the BLU-109 penetration version of the JDAM will take place during the 1997 tests.
In March, the USAF will begin separation testing of the JDAM from the Boeing B-52H, with two drop tests scheduled . In all, 11 different USAF, Navy and Marine Corps aircraft will be cleared to carry JDAMs. The weapon is being developed to provide a low-cost, autonomously guided, adverse-weather guidance capability for BLU-109/Mk84 900kg-class and BLU-110/Mk83 455kg-class warheads.
The successful JDAM release also marks an important milestone for "Block D" of the B-1B conventional-munitions upgrade programme, which is focused around the new weapon system. Upgrades of other aircraft systems in Block D include the integration of GPS navigation, secure anti-jam voice and satellite communications systems and 1760 weapons databuses, through which targeting information is fed to the JDAMs. Operational test and evaluation of the Block C phase of the programme, under which the B-1B weapons capability was upgraded began in January.
Source: Flight International
