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Air Force Tasks Boeing for More Small Diameter Bombs

Nov. 30, 2020
The U.S. Air Force has entered a $2.24 billion, seven-year contract with The Boeing Company for Small Diameter Bomb Increment One long-distance targeting weapons systems.

The U.S. Air Force Life Cycle Management Center at Eglin Air Force Base, FL has awarded The Boeing Company (St. Louis, MO) with a $2.24 billion fixed-price-incentive, firm-target contract for Small Diameter Bomb (SDB) Increment One weapon systems. The seven-year contract has a five-year ordering period and is expected to be completed by September 2027. It covers weapons, munitions, containers, and carriages for the U.S. DoD as well as for seven foreign partner nations: Australia, Belgium, Israel, Japan, Korea, The Netherlands, and Norway.

The SDB Increment One (see figure) is a miniature weapons system, a guided glide bomb that uses a combination of Global Positioning System (GPS) and inertial navigation systems for long-distance targeting. Optional semiactive laser tracking is also available to enable trimodal tracking as an option. The small size of the SDB Increment One enables most Air Force aircraft to carry four accurate, long-distance targeting weapons rather than a single 2000-lb. (907 kg) weapon, for potentially a greater number of operations per mission. Each GBU-39/B SDB Increment One weighs 268 lbs. (122 kg) and is 70.8 in. (1.8 m) in length and 7.5 in. 19 cm) in width. The minimal payload requirements of the compact targeting weapons make them suitable for use on fighter aircraft, bombers, and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).

About the Author

Jack Browne | Technical Contributor

Jack Browne, Technical Contributor, has worked in technical publishing for over 30 years. He managed the content and production of three technical journals while at the American Institute of Physics, including Medical Physics and the Journal of Vacuum Science & Technology. He has been a Publisher and Editor for Penton Media, started the firm’s Wireless Symposium & Exhibition trade show in 1993, and currently serves as Technical Contributor for that company's Microwaves & RF magazine. Browne, who holds a BS in Mathematics from City College of New York and BA degrees in English and Philosophy from Fordham University, is a member of the IEEE.

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