By Marina Malenic
ORLANDO—Lockheed Martin [LMT] has successfully completed the Paveway II Plus Laser Guided Bomb (LGB) F/A-18 qualification flight test program, officials here said yesterday.
The improved version uses an enhanced laser guidance package, making it more precise and accurate than current Paveway II LGBs, according to George Kosik, paveway advanced development manager at Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control. He said the upgrades will set Lockheed Martin’s LGB apart from that of other manufacturers.
“We believe it’s a performance discriminator,” Kosik told reporters. “We’re raising the benchmark in terms of precision.”
The final mission of the Paveway II Plus flight test program consisted of four missiles released from two U.S. Navy Super Hornets at the Navy’s China Lake, Calif., test ranges. Each weapon included the new Paveway II Plus MAU-209C/B computer control group. These four weapons, combined with two released in a prior mission, demonstrated the successful guidance characteristics and improved impact performance of the Paveway II Plus weapon system, according to Kosik.
The next portion of Lockheed Martin’s flight test program will use U.S. Air Force F-16s at Eglin AFB, Fla., and will begin “in the next couple of months,” Kosik said.
Lockheed Martin is a qualified provider of the paveway II LGB, of all three variants of the Paveway II MK-80 series LGBs, and is the sole provider of the Paveway II Enhanced Laser Guided Training Round and Dual Mode Laser Guided Bomb.
Each kit consists of a computer control group, which is the front-end guidance system, plus an air foil group, which adds stability fins on the back of each weapon. Lockheed Martin’s LGB kits can be carried on U.S. Air Force, U.S. Navy and most international aircraft platforms currently authorized to carry and release LGBs. Kits are fully compatible and interoperable with existing paveway II LGB logistics infrastructure, equipment, procedures and aircrew operations.
Lockheed Martin has delivered more than 55,000 LGB kits to the U.S. Air Force, U.S. Navy and international customers.