By Kris Osborn, Warrior
A US Air Force B-2 and Royal Norwegian Air Force F-35 destroyed moving ship targets from the air in a live-fire exercise over the Norwegian Sea .... using traditional air-dropped precision weapons modified for maritime attack.
The US Air Force is arming its fleet of B-2 bombers with an ability to destroy enemy surface ships at sea with specially modified Joint Direct Attack Munitions (JDAMs) configured with a special high-tech seeker designed to track moving surface warships.
The US Air Force Research Laboratory effort, called QUICKSINK, not only brings new dimensions of multi-domain attack to the famous B-2 but also enables "mass" to a greater degree as it reconfigures traditional precision-guided JDAMS. Unlike more exquisite and expensive air-fired anti-ship weapons such as the LRASM (Long Range Anti-Ship Missile), JDAMs are lower cost and capable of being dropped in larger numbers on an enemy at sea. Potentially, a QUICKSINK-capable B-2 armed with JDAMs configured for maritime attack might have success destroying an enemy carrier or carrier strike group from high-altitudes with a large volume of air-dropped precision firepower.
A significant write up on QUICKSINK from the Air Force Research Laboratory describes the effort as a Joint Capability Technology Demonstration (JCTD) ...... which creates air-delivered, low-cost, surface vessel defeat capability for the warfighter.
"Key to the demonstration (of QUICKSINK) is the Air Force Research Laboratory development of a Weapon Open Systems Architecture (WOSA) seeker for precision targeting of maritime surface vessels at a low-cost. This JCTD uses an existing guidance kit integrated with the new seeker to rapidly demonstrate the capability at minimal costs," the AFRL writes in an essay. "The WOSA seeker also allows the technology to be included on a variety of current and future weapons systems and enables them to engage static and moving maritime targets."
It would seem that a high-altitude stealthy attack on an enemy maritime warfare surface formation could prove both effective and highly survivable. Surface ships not only have far reaching deck-mounted guns but are also armed with anti-aircraft weapons, sensors and interceptor missiles of all ranges. With the QUICKSINK program, a B-2 could deliver both mass and precision in a multi-domain bombing attack much less detectable and targetable than fighter jets or larger, less-stealthy bombers.
Kris Osborn is the President of Warrior Maven – Center for Military Modernization. Osborn previously served at the Pentagon as a highly qualified expert in the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army—Acquisition, Logistics & Technology. Osborn has also worked as an anchor and on-air military specialist at national TV networks. He has appeared as a guest military expert on Fox News, MSNBC, The Military Channel, and The History Channel. He also has a Masters Degree in Comparative Literature from Columbia University