By Kris Osborn, President, Center for Military Modernization
The US Navy has now deployed F/A-18 Super Hornet fighter jets with a breakthrough high-tech weapon able to track moving targets for distances up to 40-miles and use three different kinds of target guidance technologies.
It’s called the Stormbreaker, a new generation of air dropped bombs in development with the Air Force and Raytheon for many years, and the weapon is now ready and operational with the US Navy.
The weapon’s development began as what was called the Small Diameter Bomb II, and its signature advantage was the pioneering use of a “tri-mode” seeker – a guidance, sensing and targeting system able to use infrared, millimeter wave and semi-active laser technologies to track targets. Renamed “Stormbreaker” in more recent years, the weapon uses a two-way data link to track targets in all weather conditions over distances up to 40-miles. Although a single air dropped bomb and not a cruise missile, it almost has a Tomahawk-like ability to loiter to a degree as it tracks changing target specifics.
A Raytheon essay on the weapon quotes Paul Ferraro, President of Air Power at Raytheon speaking to the targeting versatility of Stormbreaker, saying it provides “aviators with the ability to strike targets in difficult and dynamic scenarios.
“StormBreaker features an innovative multimode seeker that guides the weapon by using an imaging infrared camera, millimeter-wave radar, and semi-active laser in addition to, or with, GPS and inertial navigation system guidance,” a Raytheon essay explains.
The weapon is not only all-weather capable due to its millimeter wave technology but also brings additional fuzing and energetics or explosive options. The integration of new explosive materials and warhead components is what enables the weapon to kill tanks, a Raytheon statement said.
Specifically, the Stormbreaker warheads are equipped with shape charge jets, fragmentation and other technologies which bring an ability to destroy tanks.
“Warheads, equipped with shape charge jets, fragmentation and blast-charge effects, and an option for a delayed smart fuze, are powerful enough to defeat tanks,” the statement explains.The Stormbreaker’s delayed fuze can bring additional penetrating effects designed to fire through an armored exterior and explode further into the vehicle, maximizing destruction. Fragmentation upon detonation, yet another element of a multi-effects warhead, can expand the sphere of damage to a tank, making its explosive ammunition compartment more vulnerable.
This kind of technological ability to kill tanks could also introduce tactical implications for Navy warships needing to track and explode enemy warships, surface drones or coastal targets. Perhaps additional penetrating effects, the use of a delayed fuse or applications of new explosive materials could help break through the hull of an enemy warship and inflict much greater damage to its functionality.
An ability for an F/A-18 to perform attack missions using bombs with this versatility seems to introduce a series of tactical advantages for maritime warfare, as foggy or obscured weather conditions could make GPS or laser targeting more difficult.
In this case, millimeter wave or infrared targeting might prove optimal. Conversely, should a target be moving and less obstructed by adverse weather, a laser spot might be the quickest and most efficient way to attack. Laser designations “painting” targets can be on the ground or in the air, with each offering tactical advantages. For example, targets with a horizontal or ground-facing volume area such as doors and window might best be designated from the ground, whereas targets better observable from an aerial or “vertical” axis might be best “lit-up” from the air
“Airborne designators can also designate combatants hidden behind walled patios or in orchards, etc. However, due to their high aspect angle, they are limited in the targeting of vertical surfaces, such as windows or doors,” an interesting essay in Defense-Update explains.
The Stormbreaker is now being integrated into all three variants of the F-35, yet the Raytheon essay points out that adding the weapon to 4th-generation platforms such as an F/A-18 can help make 4th-generation aircraft more relevant and useful in a high-end threat environment. The Stormbreaker was first operational on a US Air Force F-15E in 2022, and is now flying on carrier-launched F/A-18s.
Kris Osborn is the President of Warrior Maven – Center for Military Modernization and Osborn previously served at the Pentagon as a Highly Qualified Expert with 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.
