Polish F-16C,
air display

F-16C/D Block 52 aircraft serve as the backbone of Poland’s air force. In February 2012, the USA’s Defense Security Cooperation Agency announced [PDF] Poland’s official request for F-16 weapons, as well as a 5 year fleet support contract that includes associated equipment, parts, and training. They will be bought using the USA’s Foreign Military Sales process, and the requested items are expected to cost up to $447 million.

If a contract is negotiated after the 15-day FMS wait period for NATO members, the prime contractors are listed as Raytheon in Tucson, AZ and Waltham, MA; Boeing in St. Charles, MO; McAlester Army Ammunition Plant in McAlester, OK; and United Technologies Corporation in Hartford, CT. Poland’s specific request includes…

Latest update (Feb 7/12)

“Grand Slam”

During the Second World War, attacking heavily protected targets like U-boat pens and protected “V-weapon” facilities was a key challenge. Enter a brilliant British engineer named Barnes Wallis, fresh off the dam-busting “Upkeep” bouncing bomb. His next trick was a 12,000 pound weapon called the “Tallboy,” a streamlined, spin-stabilized bomb with a claimed terminal velocity of Mach 1 when dropped from 20,000 feet. That mass, carrying 5,200 pounds of Torpex D1 explosive, made a crater 80 feet deep x 100 feet across when it hit. By 1945, Wallis’ next “Earthquake bomb” was in production – the 22,000 pound “Grand Slam.” His creations made short work of U-boat pens.

These bombs went out of fashion with the advent of nuclear weapons, but if you wait long enough, fashion comes around again. Enter the USA’s new Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP). Despite additional funding, and October promises of accelerated deployment, the MOP did not arrive by mid-2010, as planned. Development continues, however, and fielding draws closer:

• The MOP Program
• Contracts and Key Events [updated]
• Additional Readings
  Continue Reading… »

Death from above
(click to view larger)

1st order for new owners. (Jan 17/12)

The Viper Strike began life as the BAT – a canceled munition option for ground-fired ATACMS missiles. After USAF Predator UAVs armed with Hellfire missiles began to show promise in the Global War on Terror, however, US Army planners began to examine their options. Could they place a similar capability in the hands of Army ground commanders? In July 2002, these examinations led to the award of a 90-day contract to demonstrate the possibility of BAT deployment on a modified U.S. Army RQ-5 Hunter UAV.

Those tests went well, and Viper Strikes are currently carried by MQ-5B Hunter UAVs – see this video [MPG, 13.2 MB] of a Viper Strike in testing. The weapon’s small size (3 feet long, 44 pounds) and special advantages in urban fights, mountainous terrain, etc. give it a chance of spreading to other platforms. Special Operations Command has shown interest, but front-line deployment has been limited. Is the Viper Strike a case of “the right weapon at the right time”? Or a case of “caught betwixt and between”? That’s now an important question for Europe’s MBDA, who bought the weapon and manufacturing from Northrop Grumman…

• Viper Strike: Weapon, Platforms & Positioning
  • SOCOM’s Solution: Viper Strikes for AC-130s?
• Contracts & Key Events [updated]
• Additional Readings
  Continue Reading… »

RQ-7 Shadow

What the USMC missed without this; Afghan deployment coming. (Dec 30/11)

By 2007, US Army RQ-7 Shadow battalion-level UAVs had seen their flight hours increase to up 8,000 per month in Iraq, a total that compared well to the famous MQ-1 Predator. Those trends have gained strength, as workarounds for the airspace management issues that hindered early deployments become more routine. Some RQ-7s are even being used to extend high-bandwidth communications on the front lines.

The difference between the Army’s RQ-7 Shadow UAVs and their brethren like the USAF’s MQ-1A Predator, or the Army’s new MQ-1C Sky Warriors, is that the Shadow has been too small and light to be armed. With ultra-small missiles still in development, and missions in Afghanistan occurring beyond artillery support range, arming the Army’s Shadow UAVs has become an even more important objective. It would take some new technology, but that seems to be on the way for the US Army’s RQ-7B Shadow UAV fleet…

• Pieces of the Puzzle
• Contracts and Key Events [updated]
• Additional Readings [updated]
  Continue Reading… »

F-15S & weapons

$29.4 billion fighter sale. (Dec 29/11)

In August 2010, reports surfaced in the Wall Street Journal that Saudi Arabia was negotiating a $30-60 billion arms package with the USA. The reported deal was said to involve another 84 F-15 Strike Eagles to replace the Kingdom’s Tornado strike aircraft and/or F-15A-D fighters, about 132 UH-60 Black Hawk utility and AH-64 attack helicopters, and armaments to equip them.

Since the deal didn’t even reach the official DSCA request stage until October 2010, details were still hazy at best. The reports did tie in to a number of events and deals that have been covered in previous years, however, and some details and key questions have emerged over time in reports, and in the DSCA’s filings. This article looks at those requests, their tie-ins, the issues that are part of these potential deals, and related follow-on requests. As is often the case with DSCA announcements, years can pass between the requests and the signed contracts:

• Foreign Affairs: Considerations and Competitors
• Contracts & Key Events [updated]
• Additional Readings
• Appendix A: Wings of Eagles – Which F-15s?
• Appendix B: What’s the Buzz – Helicopters
  Continue Reading… »

B-2 drops JDAM

FY 2011-12 budget requests; $100M+ Lot 16 production order; UAE wants a variety of JDAMs. (Dec 2/11)

Precision bombing has been a significant military goal since the invention of the Norden bomb sight in the 1920s, but its application remained elusive. Over 30 years later, in Vietnam, the destruction of a single target could require 300 bombs, which meant sending an appropriate number of fighters or bombers into harm’s way to deliver them. Even the 1991 Desert Storm war with Iraq featured unguided munitions for the most part; the US Air Force did use some laser and TV-guided weapons like Paveway bombs and Maverick missiles, but they were very expensive and only effective in good weather. If precision bombing was finally to become a reality throughout the Air Force, a new approach would be needed. The Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) became that alternative, an engine of military transformation that was also a model of procurement transformation.

DID’s FOCUS articles offer in-depth, updated looks at significant military programs of record. This DID FOCUS Article looks at the transformational history of the JDAM GPS-guided bomb program, the ongoing efforts to bring its capabilities up to and beyond the level of dual-mode guidance kits like Israel’s Spice and Raytheon’s Enhanced Paveway, and the contracts issued under the JDAM program since its inception…

• JDAM: A History of Transformation
• JDAM: Program & Variants [updated]
• JDAM: Contracts and Key Events, 1996 – Present [updated]
• Additional Readings & Sources
  Continue Reading… »

GBU-53/B, aka. SDB-II

Tri-mode seeker production line, design changes. (Nov 8/11)

The 250 pound GBU-39 Small Diameter Bomb gives American fighters the ability to carry more high-precision GPS-guided glide bombs, without sacrificing punching power against fortified targets. The initial award to Boeing was controversial, and the Darlene Druyun corruption scandal ultimately forced a re-compete of the Increment II development program. Whereas the initial GBU-39 SDB-I offered GPS-guided accuracy in a small and streamlined package, the goal of the GBU-53 SDB-II competition was a bomb that could hit moving targets in any weather, using a combination of guidance modes.

For the SDB-II competition, Boeing found itself allied with Lockheed Martin, its key opponent for the initial SDB-I contract. Its main competitor this time was Raytheon, whose SDB-II bid team found itself sharing its tri-mode seeker technology with a separate Boeing team, as they compete together for the tri-service JAGM missile award against… Lockheed Martin. So, is Raytheon’s win of the SDB-II competition also good news for its main competitor? It’s certainly good news for Raytheon, who wins a program that could be worth over $5 billion.

• Raytheon’s GBU-53 Small Diameter Bomb
• SDB-II: The Program
• SDB-II: Contract & Key Events [updated]
• Additional Readings
  Continue Reading… »

AASM test from
Mirage 2000D

AASM tests; AASM GPS and dual IIR variants confirmed used over Libya; Libyan weapons used totals; France’s sole bomb-body maker shuts down. (Oct 13/11)

France’s Armement Air-Sol Modulaire (AASM) is similar in concept to the American GPS-guided JDAM bomb, but its execution includes several key differences. The global trend toward GPS-guided weapons makes a French entry important for industrial as well as operational reasons, and Sagem/MBDA hope that AASM will earn them a market niche.

AASM’s execution also included delays, however, which was very inconvenient for the new Rafale fighters. The laser variant was especially missed, even though Thales’ Damocles surveillance and laser targeting pod hasn’t been integrated onto Rafales yet. Escorts over Afghanistan from laser-capable Mirage 2000s and Super Etendards could provide targeting, but that isn’t much good without dual-mode bombs. A 2008 contract to add GPS guidance kits to American Paveway laser-guided bombs provided an interim solution for all French fighters, but France really wanted Sagem’s AASMs – and has now begun to order them in quantity.

• The AASM Family [updated]
• Contracts & Key Events [updated]
• Additional Readings [updated]
  Continue Reading… »

A-10A over Germany

Osan AB, Korea deployments; minor TLPS fleet support contracts. (Sept 6/11)

The Precision Engagement modification is the largest single upgrade effort ever undertaken for the USA’s unique A-10 “Warthog” close air support aircraft fleet. While existing A/OA-10 aircraft continue to outperform technology-packed rivals on the battlefield, this set of upgrades is expected to make them more flexible, and help keep the aircraft current until the fleet’s planned phase-out in 2028. When complete, A-10C PE will give USAF A-10s precision strike capability sooner than planned, combining multiple upgrade requirements into one time and money-saving program, rather than executing them as standalone projects. Indeed, the USAF accelerated the PE program by 9 months as a result of its experiences in Operation Iraqi Freedom.

This is DID’s FOCUS Article for the PE program, and for other modifications to the A-10 fleet. It covers the A-10’s battlefield performance and advantages, the elements of the PE program, other planned modifications, related refurbishment efforts to keep the fleet in the air, and the contracts that have been issued each step of the way…

• A/OA-10 Thunderbolt II: Experiences on the Ground
• The A/OA-10 Precision Engagement Modification Program
• A-10 Fleet: Other Planned Improvements
• Contracts & Key Events [updated]
• Additional Research [updated]
  Continue Reading… »

GBU-12 Paveway II

Paveway II kits convert standard Mk 80 family free-fall bombs into laser-guided weapons. Each guidance kit consists of a computer control group (CCG) guidance system with a semi-active laser seeker and pneumatically-controlled guidance canards for the front-end of the bomb, plus an air foil group (AFG) on the back end that provides lift and stability. Once a target is designated, laser guidance is more accurate than GPS, but it can be foiled by obscurants like fog, sandstorms, etc.

At the beginning of August 2011, the US government issued a contract worth up to $475 million…