New Air Force Bomb Destroys Moving Targets

By Kris Osborn

The Air Force is engineering and testing a new air-dropped weapon able to destroy moving targets in all kinds of weather conditions at ranges greater than 40-miles, Air Force and Raytheon officials said.

The Small Diameter Bomb II, or SDB II, is designed to destroy moving targets in all kinds of weather, such as small groups of ISIS or terrorist fighters on-the-move in pick-up trucks.

A weapon of this kind would be of extreme relevance against ISIS fighters as the group is known to deliberately hide among civilian populations and make movements under cloud cover or adverse weather in order to avoid detection from overhead surveillance technologies.

While the Air Force currently uses a laser-guided bomb called the GBU-54 able to destroy moving targets, the new SDB II will be able to do this at longer ranges and in all kinds of weather conditions. In addition, the SDB II is built with a two-way, dual-band data link which enables it to change targets or adjust to different target locations while in flight.

The new bomb is slated to be operational on F-15E fighter jets by 2018, Raytheon and Air Force officials said. 

“It is making good progress. It is moving along well in its test program. We started the first Low Rate Initial Production for 144 weapons back in June. The threshold platform is the F-15E. The Navy is looking at integrating that on the F-18,” Lt. Gen. Arnold Bunch, Air Force Military Deputy for Acquisition, told Scout Warrior in an interview.

The SDB II could be operational on an F/A-18 Super Hornet by 2020, Raytheon officials said.