AMR-June-July-2013

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C L O S E A I R S U P P O R T ance kits and spare parts, and to provide repair and sustainment services as part of a $99.9 million contract awarded by the United States Department of Defense on 15th March. The contract will run until January 2016, and includes the supply of JDAM kits for a foreign customer, although the identity of this buyer is not being revealed. The JDAM architecture is built around a GPS kit and the weapon can achieve a stand-off range of circa 28 kilometres (15 nautical miles). The rationale behind the development of JDAM was to provide a precision weapon which would not be adversely affected by battlefield obscurants such as smoke and moisture in the air unlike laser-guided bombs. One of the key attractions of JDAM has been its cost with the price tag for guidance kits being around $27,000 per unit. This compares very favorably to other precision strike systems on the market such as the Raytheon BGM-109C/D Tomahawk Land Attack Missile. Throughout its service life, the JDAM family has been progressively upgraded. This has included the addition of a laser seeker to provide a choice of guidance options realized via the Precision Laser Guidance Set (PLGS) initiative developed by Boeing in partnership with Israel’s Elbit Systems. Contracts followed for this weapon in 2007 with Boeing delivering 400 laser seekers to the United States Air Force and 200 to the Navy. The laser-guided variant of the JDAM is known as the GBU-54 LJDAM (Laser JDAM). It made its first appearance in combat in August 2008, successfully destroying a moving vehicle. Full rate production of the GBU- 54 LJDAM commenced in September 2012, with Boeing currently building 2,300 bomb guidance kits. Export sales occurred, notably to Germany, which has become the first customer for the weapon signing a contract with Boeing for its supply in July 2008. Alongside its fulfillment of this contract, Boeing has been involved in the provision of anti-jamming kits to augment the weapon. In addition to the GBU-54 LJDAM, other variants of this weapon are under development. In 2009, it was announced that Boeing was developing the extended range JDAM-ER. This will have a reach of 80km (43nm) albeit with no degradation in accuracy. Moreover, the price of this weapon is expected to be lower at circa $10,000 per unit. Production of the JDAM- ER is expected to commence in 2015. 42 Small Diameter Bomb One perennial concern with any PGM is the size of the bomb’s warhead. Although accuracy has steadily improved over the years, concerns regarding collateral damage have resulted in design engineers evolving weapons with comparatively small explosive loads. This allows the bomb to detonate destroying the target while reducing damage to the surrounding area. This is particularly relevant when CAS is being performed in a builtup environment. Designated as the GBU-53B Small Diameter Bomb-II (SDB-II) and produced by Raytheon, the 114kg (250lb) weapon reaches its target using GPS, laser, Millimeter Wave (MMW) radar and Infra- Red (IR) guidance. When the weapon is released small wings pop out of its body giving it a standoff range of 22km (40nm), although as the weapon is un-powered, this will vary according to launching altitude. The four distinct guidance modes are intended to provide the user with a large number of targeting options. The semiactive laser ensures pin-point accuracy, while the MMW radar allows the detecl ASIAN MILITARY REVIEW l
C L O S E A I R S U P P O R T tion of moving targets and can be used in all weathers, unlike the laser seeker. The IR guidance system, meanwhile, allows the detection of targets with a heat signature such as vehicles with their engines running and concentrations of troops. As the IR seeker is uncooled, this can be done rapidly, as the weapon does not require any time for the sensor to chill before it can be used. While the bomb itself contains several sensor types, the same is the case for the warhead which comprises both a shaped charge, and a combined blast and fragmentation warhead to provide a maximum destructive effect against personnel as well as buildings and vehicles. To date, the SDB-II programme covers the manufacture of up to 17,000 weapons; The GBU-12 Paveway-II precisionguided munition provides accurate guidance for the Mk.82 general purpose bomb. The weapon uses a nose-mounted laser and small fins for guidance © US DoD The JDAM family has been progressively upgraded. This has included the addition of a laser seeker to provide a choice of guidance options realized via the Precision Laser Guidance Set 12,000 of which will be for the United States Air Force and 5,000 for the US Navy. The weapon will be deployed onboard the Lockheed Martin F-35B/C Lightning-II Joint Strike Fighter and Boeing F/A-18E/F Hornet combat aircraft, although other platforms may be added in the future. Low rate initial production is expected to commence by the end of 2013. In fact, in January this year, Raytheon announced that it had performed a successful fit check of the GBU- 53B in the weapons bay of the F-35A, with four weapons equipping the space alongside a single air-to-air missile. SPICE While Elbit Systems of Israel has been involved in the design and production of Boeing’s JDAM family (see above) their fellow Israeli defence specialists Rafael Advanced Defense Systems has developed the SPICE (Smart, Precise Impact and Cost-Effective) guidance kit to augment dumb bombs. Rafael has produced the SPICE family in three distinct versions: The SPICE-1000 equips 1,000lb (454kg) weapons such as the BLU-110, RAP-1000 and Mk.83 munitions. The SPICE-2000 similarly equips warheads in the 2,000lb (909kg) class such as the BLU- 109, RAP-2000 and Mk.84. Finally, the SPICE-2000 uses the SPICE-1000 body but adds deployable wings to provide the weapon with a stand-off distance in the region of 60km (32nm). The company says that SPICE boasts a circular error probable in the region of three metres (ten feet). One of the features of the weapon is that it can compare imagery gathered from its optronic seeker with an integral database of images to ensure that the bomb hits its intended target. Moreover, it is possible to designate SPICE to hit its target using a specific attack profile so as to ensure the maximum destructive effect against the target. The Israeli Air Force is known to use the SPICE family of PGMs. Paveway Raytheon’s highly successful Paveway PGM family has been around since the mid-1960s with the weapons originally being developed by Texas Instruments. Since then, Paveway has been progressively modernized through several build standards which have brought steadily increasing capabilities to the design. Most recently, on 30th March this year, Raytheon was awarded a contract by the United States l JUNE/JULY 2013 l 43
Page 1 and 2: VOLUME 21/ISSUE 4 JUNE/JULY 2013 US
Page 3 and 4: Contents JUNE/JULY 2013 VOLUME 21 /
Page 6 and 7: A I R P O W E R C O U N T E R I N S
Page 14 and 15: I N F A N T R Y F I G H T I N G V E
Page 22 and 23: VOLUME 18/ISSUE 2 MARCH 2010 US$15
Page 24 and 25: REGIONAL U A V D I R E C T O R Y Th
Page 26: REGIONAL U A V D I R E C T O R Y Th
Page 29 and 30: REGIONAL U A V D I R E C T O R Y J/
Page 31 and 32: REGIONAL U A V D I R E C T O R Y te
Page 34 and 35: NIGHT VISION T H E R M A L I M A G
Page 40 and 41: C L O S E A I R S U P P O R T UP CL
Page 44 and 45: C L O S E A I R S U P P O R T Depar
Page 46 and 47: M I L I T A R Y TRAINING & SIMULATI
Page 48: M I L I T A R Y TRAINING & SIMULATI
Page 51 and 52: There is a steadily increasing dema
Page 53 and 54: N A V A L ANTI-SURFACE WARFARE One
Page 55 and 56: N A V A L ANTI-SURFACE WARFARE adva
Page 58 and 59: BUSINESS WITH ROSONBORNEXPORT A NEE
Page 60: REGIONAL NEWS A N D D E V E L O P M
Page 64: REGIONAL NEWS A N D D E V E L O P M

AMR-June-July-2013

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