Raytheon [RTN] and the Air Force recently concluded a series of flight tests for the Small Diameter Bomb (SDB) II, moving the program closer to a potential Milestone C decision in the fourth quarter of 2014.
Using upgraded hardware and electronics during extended periods of flight, SDB II successfully acquired and engaged several stationary targets, according to a company statement. Raytheon said these tests position the program to move from the engineering and manufacturing development (EMD) phase to low-rate initial production (LRIP).
SDB II uses an uncooled tri-mode seeker, which operates in three modes: millimeter-wave radar, uncooled imaging infrared and semi-active laser. These three modes, Raytheon said, enables the weapon to seek and destroy targets, even in adverse weather conditions from standoff range.
“What these test did was essentially take the production representative hardware and (provide) further proof that this tri-mode seeker and the SDB II weapon can hit stationary or moving targets, which we demonstrated in the last couple flight tests,” Raytheon Deputy Program Director For SDB II Murali Krishnan told Defense Daily
in a recent interview.
Krishnan said the weapon was deployed for flight tests from an F-15, one of two threshold aircraft, along with the F-35B and C variants, for the EMD program. There are a number of objective aircraft, he said, which will be used to accomplish environmental qualification, so when the company is done with qualification, only integration of hardware into airframe is required. Other objective aircraft, Krishnan said, include F-35A, F-16, F-18, MQ-9 Reaper, F-22 and A-10, among others.
Once the integration is completed on the F-35B and F-35C, Krishnan said, the F-35A will follow as the “lion’s share” of the work will have already been performed. Krishnan said SDB II was designed for internal carriage in F-35, which will drive a lot of the size and weight aspects. Krishnan said the EMD phase runs through 2017, with the qualification portions of EMD “tailing off considerably” and hoping to wrap up in the next few months.
Krishnan said SDB II is a glide munitions about 208 pounds, six feet in length and six or seven inches in diameter. It is designed to fill a need to hit both stationary and moving targets in adverse weather, he said.