Boeing Delivers 200,000th JDAM Tailkit

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 Rub, Boeing vice president for Weapons Programs. "200,000 deliveries later, the team is still meeting that commitment to the warfighter on schedule and on target."

Lynda Rutledge, director of the 708th Armament Systems Group at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., added her appreciation of JDAM: "After 10-plus years of production, 200,000 units produced for Air Force, Navy and international inventories, and over 23,000 combat drops, JDAM has become the warfighters' weapon of choice," she said.

JDAM is a low-cost guidance kit that converts existing free-fall bombs into accurately guided smart weapons. With its Inertial Navigation System/Global Positioning System guidance, JDAM provides near-precision accuracy against a variety of targets in any weather. In addition to the four baseline weapons, the JDAM family also includes Laser JDAM, which was deployed operationally earlier this year. Future enhancements under development include JDAM Extended Range and Radar JDAM.

Boeing is currently under contract to build an additional 11,670 JDAM tailkits for the United States and its allies in the coming years, with additional quantities in the planning stages.

Better yet.

The JDAM has gone through several upgrades in its ten year production. Efforts by threat nations to jam this munitions GPS guidance were preemptively neutralized with the introduction of INS back-up and now with combing of laser and GPS we have a precision guided LGB (weather permitting) and all weather near precision capability all wrapped up in a single bomb that is highly cost effective and reliable. A complete success story, and of course it won't be in the MSM.

http://www.boeing.com/ids/news/2005/q1/nr_050203t.html

Awesome!

JDAM has literally changed everything in air warfare.

Precision Firepower Meets Economics of Abundance: Any aircraft which can drop a dumb bomb can be easily modified to carry a precision weapon. Even propeller-driven UAVs.

Interdiction Redefined: Dedicated airfield denial munitions have been made obsolete. No more need for Tornados with JP233s flying 50 feet across an enemy airfield.

Close Air Support Reinvented: Large bombers can now loiter at high altitudes for hours and offer sniper precise close air support which previously required the pilot's eyes on the target.

We have lots of friends that believe in unilateralism, alliances, NATO, and so fourth when they have a benefit from us, i.e. Germany, France, Greece..... you know, the usual suspects. Example: Balkans.

But we also have a small core of true allies, nations that act on principal and will stick to their agreements and commitments even when it's painful to do so. They are the short list of movers and shakers who on the international stage stick their neck out defending our mutual/collective interests. The other ones mentioned above are the moochers, the tag alongs'; those who ripped their mouth open over missile defense, calling us names, and today have no recollection of their own words from years past and silently sit under our shield. The ones who ripped their mouths open over the Pershing missile, but never wonder today if nuclear deterrence did work. The ones who expect and even "demand" all the benefits of a global market place, a free and open Western world where their goods are shipped on water ways, they have access to strategic resources, their people fly on open and safe air ways, where there is regional stability, protection of intellectual property, a rule of law and respect of human rights. They "demand" a lot, but do as little as absolutely possible, and this behavior they see as noble, intellectual, and of course far superior to us dumb cowboys that only go to war for oil.

What to know who the allies are? Look in Iraq, or among those in Afghanistan that are doing the fighting and willing to go into bad places. Ask yourself who invited the Russians into Europe, and who's keeping their mouth shut and doing as little as possible reference Georgia...... It's obvious. The weasel saw a benefit with huge energy deals years past and screwed as neighbors, even bullying them over pipeline issues, and today the same weasels will sit their quietly not remembering that either and wondering how they will now deal with their dependence on Russian energy.

We have allies, but there are also many weasels who do as little as possible while faced with the same threats and issues at the macro level and even willing to sell the enemy the rope with which he'll hang us. Want to know who the weasels are? Who in the West sitting in the boat with us had the big contracts during Saddam's Iraq, or in Iran today........? The same ones that are the major trading partners with these despot regimes are also the ones unwilling to raise a finger in our collective security and interest concerns. But of course they see themselves far superior to us.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.