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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...

Last month, the president announced his intention to sell Saudi Arabia some of our most sophisticated weapons. This is a bad idea, and you should let your representative know it right away. The proposed $20 billion deal includes “satellite-guided weaponry” and “high-tech munitions,” including 900 JDAM bombs. The JDAM is arguably the smartest “smart bomb” in our arsenal. Its electronics can “guide the bomb to its target regardless of weather.” And, it is also resistant to the jamming of its GPS system. ...The Saudi government funds and operates “mosques, madrassas, and Islamic centers” in the United States and elsewhere. These...

Bush expedites Saudi smart bomb deal HERB KEINON and YAAKOV KATZ , THE JERUSALEM POST Jan. 8, 2008 Amid Israeli security concerns and in an apparent effort by US President George W. Bush to go to Riyadh next week bearing gifts, the Bush administration has moved up by a day the date on which it will formally notify Congress of plans for a $20 billion arms deal with Saudi Arabia, The Jerusalem Post has learned. Although the administration had originally planned to inform Congress of the deal on January 15, it will now do so on January 14. Bush, according...

Bush expedites arms deal to supply 'smart bombs' to Saudis HERB KEINON and YAAKOV KATZ , THE JERUSALEM POST Jan. 8, 2008 Amid Israeli security concerns and in an apparent effort by US President George W. Bush to go to Riyadh next week bearing gifts, the Bush administration has moved up by a day the date on which it will formally notify Congress of plans for a $20 billion arms deal with Saudi Arabia, The Jerusalem Post has learned. Although the administration had originally planned to inform Congress of the deal on January 15, it will now do so on...

INSURGENTS firing rockets at a British base in southern Iraq were spotted and tracked by an Australian unmanned spyplane, then obliterated with a guided bomb from a US fighter jet. In a stunning demonstration of the capabilities of the new ScanEagle unmanned aerial vehicle, the Australian operators tracked the insurgents for half an hour as they fired one rocket then drove to a different location to fire another. They were not aware they had been spotted until a 227kg JDAM guided bomb exploded in their midst. Television images of the May 1 attack have now been released to media visiting...

Gates: U.S. to sell smart bombs to Saudi Arabia By Ze'ev Schiff , Haaretz Correspondent U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said during his visit to Israel that Washington has decided to sell Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) bombs to Saudi Arabia, Haaretz has learned. A recent discussion in Washington raised the possibility that Jerusalem would ask the U.S. not to sell the satellite-guided smart bombs to the Saudis, but it was decided to reject this request. The Israel Air Force itself has purchased the high-accuracy JDAMs, and used them against Hezbollah targets during the Second Lebanon War. Defense Minister Amir...

JERUSALEM -- The Israeli air force has decided to buy smart munitions kits from the Chicago-based Boeing aerospace company for an estimated $100 million, Israeli defense officials said Monday. The Jerusalem Post daily said the planned purchase was for the Joint Direct Attack Munition, or JDAM, which converts conventional 2,000 pound bombs into satellite-guided, precision weapons. Defense officials said the acquisition was meant to replenish stores used up in last summer's monthlong war against the Hezbollah militia in Lebanon and increase future stock levels. The Jerusalem Post said the purchase would not require Congressional approval, as it was the exercise...

A U.S. Air Force F-22 Raptor air dominance fighter, flying at a speed of Mach 1.5 and an altitude of 50,000 feet, released a GPS-aided Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) from a range of 24 nautical miles, destroying a small ground target in the F-22's fastest and highest JDAM delivery yet.This was another milestone testing event for the Combined Test Force of Lockheed Martin [NYSE: LMT], The Boeing Company [NYSE: BA] and U.S. Air Force pilots who conducted the joint developmental and operational test in early May at White Sands Missile Range, N.M., using a 1,000-pound Mk-83 JDAM with live...

5/19/2006 - SOUTHWEST ASIA (AFPN) -- A B-1B Lancer struck a Taliban-associated compound May 17 near Kandahar, Afghanistan, in support of coalition ground forces conducting operations to detain individuals suspected of terrorist activities. The bomber responded to an immediate air support request with a GBU-38 Joint Direct Attack Munition, destroying the compound from which the Taliban members were attacking. Coalition ground forces reported approximately 15 to 20 Taliban were killed from the air strike. These individuals were active members of the Taliban network and conducted attacks against coalition and Afghan forces. Additionally, they conducted attacks against Afghan government officials and...

BAGRAM AIR BASE, Afghanistan, May 8, 2006 – A coalition air strike killed four enemy extremists and destroyed a truck and a cave complex today in the Bermel district of Afghanistan's Paktika province, military officials reported. Other insurgents may be buried in the rubble, officials said. Prior to the strike, a joint combat team of Afghan National Army and U.S. ground forces saw people loading a truck near the cave and determined they were moving rockets from a cave complex and that the activity was linked to recent rocket attacks on a nearby coalition base. Close-air support was used to...

AL ASAD, Iraq (April 9, 2006) -- Sweat slowly drips off of the Marines as they carefully raise the 500- and 1000-pound munitions to the weapons carriage on the AV-8B Harrier - the Flying Nightmares are readying for action. Marine Attack Squadron 513, Marine Aircraft Group 16, 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, is the first Harrier squadron to employ the Joint Direct Attack Munitions in a combat zone. "With this new feature on our jets, we will be able to hit targets more accurately, therefore making us a more effective squadron," said Lt. Col. Willis E. Price, commanding officer, VMA-513. The...

B-52 Munitions Airmen Support Enduring Freedom Ops The airmen's goal is to provide 100 percent on-time deliveries using 100 percent reliable weapons, culminating in 100 percent bombs on target. By U.S. Air Force Master Sgt. Scott King 40th Air Expeditionaly Group Public Affairs OPERATION ENDURING FREEDOM, March 31, 2006 — A group of U.S. Air Force airmen supporting Operation Enduring Freedom attribute their unit's tight-knit camaraderie to their demanding work environment. These airmen build bombs for the B-52 Stratofortress aircraft providing close air support over Afghanistan. "I feel the mission here is vital. Our 'Buffs' flying above enemy territory...

3/17/2006 - EGLIN AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. (AFPN) -- To call yourself the Airman warfighter's weapon of choice is one thing, but it's quite another to go out and back it up. Since its debut in 1999, the Joint Direct Attack Munition, or JDAM, has been called upon more than 15,000 times and continues to be used in the global war on terror. JDAM is a tail kit that turns an unguided dumb bomb, already in the warfighter's arsenal, into an accurate smart munition. These new smart weapons are available to the warfighter in four variants: the 2,000-pound MK-84, the...

One of the strangest, and most useful, bombs employed in Iraq has been the concrete filled JDAM. Why deliver a 500 pound bomb filled with concrete instead of explosives? You do that if you want to do some damage, but not a lot. Concrete JDAMs were first used in the 1990s to destroy anti-aircraft guns, radars and missiles that Saddam Hussein placed in residential areas. He believed that the Americans would not attack these weapons, for fear of hurting nearby civilians. But it turned out that a laser, or satellite (JDAM) guided concrete smart bomb could take out the air-defense...

7/25/2005 - EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. (AFPN) -- As the midafternoon sun blazed on the Mojave Desert and thunderclouds loomed in the distance, a sleek dark gray war bird took to the sky to push the envelope of flight testing. At the controls, Maj. John Teichert, a 411th Flight Test Squadron test pilot, pushed the F/A-22 Raptor past Mach 1, opened the weapons bay and released a guided bomb unit-32 1,000-pound joint direct attack munition, marking the first time a Raptor has dropped a JDAM at supersonic speed. "Qualifying the Raptor to release GPS-guided bombs at supersonic speeds is...

For The 4th of July this one needs a repost...Hit the link for large, loud explosion.

Photo Credit: Boeing photo ST. LOUIS, February 3, 2005 - Boeing (NYSE: BA) successfully conducted a guided flight test of the Boeing laser-guided Joint Direct Attack Munition at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla. A U.S. Air Force F-16 launched the 500-pound GBU-38 weapon from 25,000 feet and approximately six miles from its target. The weapon detected the target, illuminated by a ground-based laser, and scored a direct hit within five feet of the designated aimpoint. The flight test occurred on January 20. "The beauty of Laser JDAM is that it provides a highly affordable, highly desirable capability that can...

Yesterday, someone posted a photo of a JDAM about to drop into the explosion from a first JDAM impact. I have searched and searched, but cannot find that photo. One of our pilots needs it for a brief. Can anyone point me to that photo?

StrategyPage's Military Photos Return to Military Photos IndexTwo JDAMs At Once on the Same Target In Iraq, a JDAM explodes as another, headed for the same aiming point, plunges into the dust and rubble. A common tactic with JDAMs GPS guided bombs is to drop two bombs on the same target, releasing the second as quickly as possible after the first. Sometimes this is done to make sure a vital target gets taken out, in case there is a malfunction ( about ten percent of the time there is a fuse or guidance system failure.) At other times, two...

Check out this video of an LST taking a couple of JDAMs from a B-52. The damage is extensive. Download time is short - even on a dial-up like mine.