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An American weapon first dropped by stealth bombers over Kosovo in 1999 and then during combat in the post-9/11 wars will soon be used by Ukrainian pilots flying Russian-made jets to kill Russian soldiers. The weapon, called the Joint Direct Attack Munition, consists of a kit that turns a cheap unguided bomb into a highly accurate, GPS-guided weapon. It is usually referred to as JDAM (pronounced JAY-dam). The Biden administration announced this week that the weapons would be part of a new $1.85 billion military aid package, giving Kyiv a precision-guided bombing capability it has never had. When dropped from...

Famine, floods, pestilence, drought, plague, war, and rumors of war. These are the key issues facing the world today and the invitation-only World Economic Forum (WEF) next week in Davos, Switzerland, is just the place to find the answers provided by the select globalist elites, founder Klaus Schwab declared Wednesday. “The return of war, epidemics and the climate crisis, all those disruptive forces have derailed the global recovery,” Schwab, the forum’s executive chairman, told journalists in an almost biblical prognostication ahead of the convention’s start on Sunday.

A Korean F-16D, some of which have been upgraded to carry precision weapons such as (inset) the Rafael Spice glide bomb. (Photos: Chris Pocock and KForce News) The Republic of Korea Air Force (ROKAF) has performed numerous live drops of the Rafael Spice 2,000-pound guided glide bomb this year, suggesting that the weapon is fully certified on its F-16 fleet. The Israeli company does not discuss customers, but reports indicate that Seoul signed a deal with Rafael in late 2015, with deliveries due in the second half of 2016. The weapon was seen in a quick-response exercise mounted by the...

No matter how well prepared a military is, it’s never easy to shift direction rapidly to respond to new threats. One U.S. Air Force briefing suggests Pentagon’s rush to counter ISIS in Iraq and Syria sent the service scrambling to find the right mix of tactics and weapons, with nearly 20 percent of its bombs failing to achieve the desired effect within the first four months of the bombing campaign and potentially contributing to an ongoing shortfall of certain bombs and missiles. On Aug. 7, 2014, the United States kicks off air strikes against the brutal terrorists in Iraq, beginning...

The U.S. has decided to sell Turkey $70 million worth of “smart bombs,” a key item in a set of crucial weapon systems that Washington had been refusing to send to Ankara. The Pentagon announced on Oct. 29 that the U.S. State Department approved the sale after the Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA), part of the U.S. Department of Defense, told Congress late on Oct. 28 that Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) systems would be sold to Turkey, granting lawmakers 15 days for any block. The Turkish military attaches great importance to the systems, especially amid the upsurge of clashes...

US recruits Aussies for flying bomb AN Australian company has been picked by the US to produce wings for a flying bomb that will allow it to glide nearly 65km, effectively turning it into a medium range guided missile. The invention turns a conventional "dumb" bomb, which simply drops from an aircraft, into a joint direct attack munition "smart" bomb that glides to its target. The strap-on "wings", developed in large part by Australia's Defence Science and Technology Organisation and tested at the Woomera rocket range, extend the range of an existing "smart" bomb from around 28km to 80km. As...

Maybe it's the sleek lines and the state-of-the-art design, or maybe it's the almost underdog status the $382 billion program has adopted since it began testing, either way new pictures of the F-35's baby steps keep popping up online. These were taken March 1, and posted to the Aviationist by David Cenciotti. They show the STOVL (Short Take Off Vertical Landing) model with its weapon bays open and a couple of dummy 2,000 pound Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) smart bombs. One more picture left to view.due to excerpt rule

U.S. may sell precision-guided bombs to UAE-source 1:32am EST WASHINGTON, Nov 12 (Reuters) - The U.S. government may soon announce plans for a large sale of precision-guided bombs to the United Arab Emirates, a source familiar with the arms sales plans said late on Thursday, as tensions mounted with Iran over its nuclear program. The Pentagon is considering a significant sale of Joint Direct Attack Munitions made by Boeing Co , adding to other recent arms deals with the UAE. These include the sale of 500 Hellfire air-to-surface missiles about which U.S. lawmakers were notified in September. The sale of...

B-1B Lancer Upgrade Will Triple Payload DYESS AIR FORCE BASE, Texas --- Airmen from the 337th Test and Evaluation Squadron began their first phase of demonstrations of a multiple ejector rack on a B-1B Lancer here March 22. If fielded, 16-carry modified rotary launchers will increase the number of 500-pound Joint Direct Attack Munitions and laser-guided JDAMs carried by the B-1B from 15 to 48, a 320 percent increase in capability. "Currently a B-1 can deliver twice the payload of a B-52 (Stratofortress), meaning, theoretically, with the MER upgrade, one B-1 will be able to deliver the same amount of...

Israel wants to buy more JDAM GPS guided bombs from the United States. Quantity was unspecified, but some of the JDAMs headed for Israel won't be owned by Israel, but by the United States. This is because, starting last year, the U.S. began storing weapons and military equipment in Israel. These emergency supplies serve a dual purpose. The primary purpose of this gear is to be quickly flown to American forces in the region in need of it. But the more likely use of this stuff is for Israeli troops, if Israel got involved in an intense war and needed...

Israel recently approached the United States with new requests for security-related purchases, Haaretz has learned. The requests included Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM ) bombs for the Israel Air Force, as well as a significant expansion of the emergency stores held by the U.S. army in Israel.The Israeli requests were brought up during recent visits to Washington by Defense Minister Ehud Barak and director-general of the Defense Ministry, Udi Shani, and in conversations with senior administration and Congress officials. The priority list reflects the security threats the defense establishment believes Israel will face in the next few years, i.e. the...

Boeing's sleek fighter-size Phantom Ray stealth jet will make its first flight by year's end. This unmanned airborne system (UAS) is designed for a variety of warfighter roles ranging from reconnaissance and surveillance to aerial refueling, electronic attack and hunter/killer missions. The 36-foot-long aircraft, which will serve as a test bed for advanced technologies, was rolled out May 10 at the Boeing Defense, Space & Security plant in St. Louis, Missouri. With its 614 mph (0.8 Mach) cruising speed, operating altitude of 40,000 feet and 50-foot wingspan, the 36,5000-pound Phantom Ray advances the state of the art for unmanned aircraft....

): The Joint Standoff Weapon C-1, developed by Raytheon Company for the US Navy, has successfully completed its first captive flight-test from on board an F/A-18E/F fighter aircraft. The air-to-ground weapon system that demonstrated its prowess to operate in challenging flight environment in the latest test, will feature additional functionality so as to make it ready for free-flight test by later this year, Phyllis McEnroe, Raytheon's JSOW programme director, said. The Joint Standoff Weapon is a family of highly-lethal, modular, air-to-ground weapon system designed to ensure warfight survivability by enabling precision strike launches from well beyond enemy defences. The JSOW...

The U.S. Navy has ordered 23 of the new U.S. LJDAM (Laser Joint Direct Attack Munitions) for evaluation. This is the GPS JDAM system, with the more accurate laser guidance in addition to GPS. It's economical because the only difference between JDAM and LJDAM is the additional laser seeker. The navy expects the LJDAM to pass all its tests, and plans to order 11,000 of them, starting next year. The only problem with LJDAM is that laser light can be blocked by rain or sand storms. However, laser guidance is more accurate (hitting within a meter or two of the...

The U.S. Air Force has successfully tested its new Paveway II Plus laser guided bomb. The existing Paveway II bomb has a range of 14 kilometers and will hit within less than half a meter of where the laser designator is reflecting off the target. Paveway is actually a guidance kit (costing about $20,000) that is fitted to a dumb bomb, turning it into a glide bomb that homes in on the reflected laser light. The Paveway II Plus is more accurate and reliable, but the exact figures are classified. Laser guided bombs have been in use since the 1960s....

Clip 1) US B-1B Lancer drops a 2000 pound JDAM on Taliban hide-out in Afghanistan in support of British troops. Clip 2) Super high-def Vietnam compilation.

Boeing has signed Foreign Military Sales (FMS) contracts with the U.S. government to provide Laser Joint Direct Attack Munitions (JDAM) to two international customers. The FMS contracts are part of a $98 million indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity contract for Laser JDAM production and integration that Boeing received in August. The weapons are scheduled for delivery in 2010. "There is strong international interest in Laser JDAM because it engages both stationary and moving targets with tremendous precision," said Dan Jaspering, Boeing director of Direct Attack Programs. "There are more than 20 countries that have JDAM, and we expect many of them...

US warplane drops JDAM on sniper hideout, 1 confirmed KIA....

The Israel Air Force has purchased a new and advanced JDAM smart bomb with a laser-targeting system that will improve the IAF's ability to accurately hit fast-moving targets. According to an Israeli Defense Ministry official, the order was placed earlier this summer for over 100 LJDAM (Laser Joint Direct Attack Munition) kits

ST. LOUIS, Sept. 18, 2008 -- The Boeing Company [NYSE: BA] delivered the 200,000th Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) tailkit on Sept. 17, just 10 years after JDAM guidance tailkit deliveries to the United States and allied countries began. Boeing began JDAM production in May 1998 at its weapons manufacturing facility in St. Charles, Mo., and since then has delivered every tailkit on cost and ahead of schedule. The U.S. Air Force received the 200,000th kit. "When the Air Force and Navy needed a reliable weapon with battlefield power, reach and aimpoint accuracy, the Boeing JDAM team delivered," said Debra...