AMR-June-July-2013

C L O S E
A I R
S U P P O R T
Department of Defense worth $31.4 million
for the supply of 396 GBU-49 and 96
GBU-50 PGMs, plus GBU-49 and GBU-50
inert training rounds. All of these items are
expected to be delivered by the end of
2018. The GBU-49 which, confusingly, is
also designated as the EGBU-12
(Enhanced GBU-12) adds a laser guidance
package to a Mk.82 500-lb (250kg) dumb
bomb. The size of the weapon makes it
ideally suited to attacking targets such as
Main Battle Tanks and relatively small
protected structures. As well as retaining a
laser guidance system, these bombs have a
GPS fitted. This latter capability is important
as obscurants in the atmosphere such
as smoke particles, fog or other weather
phenomena can degrade the performance
of the laser seeker, causing the weapon to
lose its target lock. The EGBU-12 was
introduced in 2001 and has been used
extensively during combat operations in
Afghanistan and Iraq. Users of the weapon
include the United States, United
Kingdom, Denmark and Spain.
Raytheon’s GBU-50 Paveway-II weapon
equips a Mk.84 bomb with a laser seeker
and wing guidance kit. Entering service in
the mid-1970s, this PGM has been used
operationally by several NATO air forces,
the Royal Australian Air Force, plus the
United States Air Force, Marine Corps and
Navy. Like the GBU-49, the GBU-50 has
conflicting designations. For example, it is
also known as the GBU-10. Like its GBU-49
sibling, the weapon is available with a
dual-mode guidance kit which adds a GPS
package; this PGM being designated as the
GBU-50/B or EGBU-10. Both of these
weapons are produced by Lockheed
Martin and Raytheon. The former company
has supplied them to the US Navy, with
the latter achieving export sales to the RAF.
Away from the theatres of Afghanistan
and Iraq, Paveway bombs have recently
been employed by the Royal Malaysian Air
Force during Kuala Lumpur’s combat
operations in Sabah, Eastern Malaysia.
AASM
Since its combat debut in Afghanistan
during 2008, Sagem’s AASM weapon has
been used in this conflict and during
NATO operations over Libya in 2011. The
AASM architecture includes a guidance
kit and propulsion system to equip a 250lb
bomb. The basic guidance kit includes a
GPS and Inertial Navigation System
(INS), although other versions are in the
pipeline adding laser guidance and
infrared optronics, along with guidance
kits to equip 125kg (280lb) and 1,000kg
The original version of the Small Diameter Bomb was Boeing’s GBU-39. The attraction of this
weapon is that several PGMs can be accommodated on a single airframe which may, in the past,
have had only sufficient room for one or two larger munitions © US DoD
(2,200lb) bombs. The AASM, which is also
known as the ‘Hammer’, is available in
three distinct versions: The SBU-38 is
equipped with a GPS/INS, the SBU-54
includes a laser guidance system, plus the
GPS/INS with the SBU-64 including an IR
seeker along with the GPS/INS. With a
range in the region of 50km (27nm), the
AASM guidance kits can outfit Mk.81,
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