Ramon Lopez/EGLIN AFB
The US Air Force is expected to back development and procurement of a more precise, smaller, longer-range Boeing Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM). It will also push ahead with buying Raytheon GBU-15 glide bombs and Paveway III laser-guided bombs enhanced with global positioning system (GPS) guidance.
JDAM GPS/inertial-navigation guidance kits convert freefall Mk83 450kg (1,000lb), Mk84 900kg gravity bombs and BLU-109 450kg hard-target penetrators into precision-guided munitions. Over 650 of the USAF's 937 JDAMs were dropped by Northrop Grumman B-2 stealth bombers during Operation Allied Force, requiring Boeing to accelerate the production rate.
Following pressure from the US Navy, the USAF has begun a JDAM product improvement programme, which is at the concept exploration stage, to integrate a terminal seeker such as an imaging infrared sensor, a laser radar or a synthetic aperture radar.
USAF JDAM programme manager Oscar Soler says the JDAM's accuracy could be improved from today's 10m to around 3m. A year-long analysis of alternatives will consider performance and cost issues. Soler says the improved JDAM could be fielded by 2003.
In mid-November, a proof of concept flight demonstration is planned of an extended-range JDAM fitted with the Alenia Marconi Systems Diamond Back wing kit. Company officials hope that the test will prompt the USAF and US Navy to approve engineering and manufacturing development of a JDAM range-extension programme, to increase range from 28km (17 miles) to 110km.
The USAF may field a 114kg Miniaturised Munition Capability weapon by 2007. Following trials of a JDAM kit on a 227kg Mk82 bomb in July, USAF requirements chief Major Gen Bruce Carlson says: "We will probably proceed with fielding a JDAM Mk82 as an interim measure."
Meanwhile, Raytheon is producing GPS-aided Paveway III GBU-24/27/28 laser-guided weapons for the USAF and USN. The EGBU-27/B will arm the USAF Lockheed Martin F-117A. The EGBU-28/B is the 2,250kg "bunker-buster" bomb used in Operation Desert Storm. Raytheon has delivered the first EGBU-15 glide bombs to the USAF.
Source: Flight International
