Small Diameter Bomb
Posted on 08/26/2005 2:12:38 PM PDT by Righty_McRight
ST. LOUIS, August 26, 2005 – Four Boeing [NYSE:BA] Small Diameter Bombs (SDB) were released on Aug. 25 from two separate carriages on a U.S. Air Force F-15E, testing the full capabilities of the SDB guided-weapon system.
The test at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., was conducted at an altitude of 15,000 feet, approximately 20 nautical miles from four separate targets. After receiving target coordinates, the F-15E crew released the four bombs from two separate BRU-61 carriages.
"Being able to hit more targets with fewer sorties is what the SDB was designed to do," said Boeing Weapons Enterprise Capability Center vice president, Mark McGraw. "This test not only proved it is possible, it also showed it can be done with great accuracy; a common theme for the SDB program, which has become one of the most successful weapons development programs ever."
Three of the bombs targeted military trucks on the ground, while the fourth targeted a 40-ft. wall of shipping containers, and each SDB hit its intended target. In addition to accuracy, the test was designed to further demonstrate the optimal trajectory to the target and the terminal dive angle, heading and velocity of the weapons.
With the final planned free-flight test in the development test program behind it, the Small Diameter Bomb team is scheduled to begin Operational testing this fall.
The all-weather SDB weapon system includes four bombs and is compatible with every U.S. fighter and bomber aircraft. It has a standoff range of 60 nautical miles. At 71 inches long, this 250-pound class weapon quadruples the number of weapons on each aircraft can carry. The system will first be deployed on the Boeing F-15E Strike Eagle in 2006.
A unit of The Boeing Company, Boeing Integrated Defense Systems is one of the world's largest space and defense businesses. Headquartered in St. Louis, Boeing Integrated Defense Systems is a $30.5 billion business. It provides network-centric system solutions to its global military, government, and commercial customers. It is a leading provider of intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance systems; the world's largest military aircraft manufacturer; the world's largest satellite manufacturer and a leading provider of space-based communications; the primary systems integrator for U.S. missile defense; NASA's largest contractor; and a global leader in sustainment solutions and launch services.
Sweeeeet.
At 71 inches long, this 250-pound class weapon quadruples the number of weapons on each aircraft can carry.
Umm....Grammatical error. Otherwise the rest of the article is right on target.
..yo Akbar,listen up
Doogle
So is this thing powered (rocket) or what? How do you achieve a 60nm standoff of a gravity weapon? That's too far to even see the aircraft in most cases.
Is that a lob trajectory or what?
How well it work after the Chinese knock out the GPS satellites?
Now,....keep Chinese 'spies' OUT of Boeing,....and Boeing OUT of China!
AWSOME! How do you say "where in the heck did that come from" in Arabic?
Is that a lob trajectory or what?
In some of the pictures I've seen, it looks like it has some pop-out wings.
I think that's a picture of a lockheed martin version. The Boeing SDB also deploys wings though.
The B-2 will be able to carry up to 216 of them. Sweet, over 200 separate targets with one bomber.
Okay... So when will the first shipments be ready for Iraq?
2006
Can't speed up production?
A silent swarm swooping in.
I'm not sure. I just know the first ones are going to be used on F-15E's in 2006. I assume we have some stationed over there.
We do not have any GPS guided weapons in our inventory.
However, we have lots of GPS-corrected inertially guided weapons systems -- GPS just reduces the CEP. The idea of 'GPS guided weapons' is a media invented canard that refuses to die. Our weapon designers are not stupid. You wouldn't want to be sitting in the target even if you did eliminate GPS; it is a small blessing to have it miss you by ten feet instead of landing on top of you. Really hard to jam inertial guidance, short of altering the gravitational constant of the universe. And if the Chinese can do that, we might as well throw in the towel now.
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