The U.S. Department of Defense announced a contract worth up to $79,3 million for integration and test of new air-launched munitions.
According to the U.S. Department of Defense contract announcements, the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center has awarded Raytheon Missiles & Defense a contract worth as much as $79 million for Small Diameter Bomb Increment II lot integration and test.
This contract effort will deliver all-up round (AUR) test vehicles, perform AUR-level assembly, checkout, testing and systems integration testing; and prepare for production cut-in and fielding for the multiple engineering changes needed, including National Security Agency (NSA) cryptographic modernization, Global Positioning System (GPS) military code, mitigation of part obsolescence, and design changes evolving from production and/or operations.
Raytheon says the SDB II s designed and built from the ground up to deliver to the warfighter an affordable and efficiently produced weapon that brings new levels of capability yet remains easy to employ and maintain. It has a powerful warhead capable of destroying armored targets, yet keeps collateral damage to a minimum through a small explosive footprint.
SDB II’s capabilities include the ability for the weapon to be employed in three primary attack modes, each with a subset mode, for a total of six engagement modes. A dual band, two-way weapon data link for in-flight target updates and status reporting allows post-launch control of the weapon by the launching aircraft, a Joint Terminal Attack Controller (JTAC), or a third party.
Work will be performed in Tucson, Arizona, and is expected to be completed April 1, 2023.