Sun, Jul 20, 2003
Designed to Limit Collateral Damage
Boeing's Small Diameter Bomb
(SDB) continued successful flight-testing this week with a release
from an F-15E at Eglin Air Force Base (FL). “This was the
most complete test of our entry in the SDB competition,
demonstrating all of the elements of the system,” said Dan
Jaspering, Boeing SDB program manager. “This test included a
weapon with a live fuze, mission planning, our support equipment,
and the four-place carriage system for the aircraft. The tests
verify that we will have a low-risk transition of the Boeing SDB
from this phase of the program into operational testing and
production.” Boeing received a $47 million contract from the
Air Force in September 2001 as one of two competitors for the
Component Advanced Development phase of the SDB program. Air Force
officials will select a single company to produce small diameter
bombs and carriage systems in the fall of 2003.
“With this flight we have completed, on schedule, our
tenth planned flight test,” said Jaspering. “However,
we realize risk is the number one criteria in the source selection
and has a direct affect on delivering a capability to the
warfighter in 2006. We intend to use the remaining time before
down-select to continue testing and further substantiate the Boeing
design.”
The objective of the Air Force’s SDB program is to provide
weapons, carriage system, and support infrastructure to improve
sortie effectiveness and to reduce collateral damage in target
area. A proprietary guidance system developed by Boeing enables the
extreme accuracy of the SDB. This accuracy improvement can also be
used by JDAM and other systems.
The Boeing SDB has a 250-pound class warhead with a range
considerably greater than 40 nautical miles. SDB uses a high
performance folding wing system to provide mission flexibility.
More News
Very High Frequency The frequency band between 30 and 300 MHz. Portions of this band, 108 to 118 MHz, are used for certain NAVAIDs; 118 to 136 MHz are used for civil air/ground voi>[...]
Aero Linx: Aviation Suppliers Association Established February 25, 1993, the Aviation Suppliers Association (ASA), based in Washington, D.C., is a not-for-profit association, repre>[...]
Have A Story That NEEDS To Be Featured On Aero-News? Here’s How To Submit A Story To Our Team Some of the greatest new stories ANN has ever covered have been submitted by our>[...]
From 2021 (YouTube Version): Colorado Campus Offers aVariety Of Aerospace Entertainment And Education Wings over the Rockies Exploration of Flight is the second location for the Wi>[...]
Also: Paramotor Champ's, Electric Ultralight, ICON BK Update, Burt Rutan at Oshkosh! The Popular Rotorcraft Association is reaching out for help in rebuilding their private runway >[...]