Miniature Munitions: Is The US Military Prepared to Support Major Combat Operations
Abstract
The Small Diameter Bomb (SDB) II, also known as the Guided Bomb Unit (GBU) 53/B, is the United States (US) Air Forces newest standoff weapon to use miniature munition technology in combination with an all-weather guidance seeker designed to support a land offensive. The SDB II uses the US Air Forces new explosive material, Air Force Explosive 757 (AFX-757), in combination with target recognition software giving aircraft the capability to strike moving targets in all-weather conditions with up to four times more weapons per aircraft. Over the past decade, the US Department of Defense (DOD) has invested over $3 billion in the SDB program. The high cost of the SDB, specifically the SDB II, dramatically reduced the number of weapons acquired when compared to older precision guided munitions (PGM). An evaluation framework is used to analyze the SDB IIs ability to support a major land offensive as the only weapon. The number of weapons, cost, and production rate are compared to the Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) air campaign. The SDB utilizes a small warhead and is not capable of replacing larger class weapons like the 1000-lb and 2,000-lb PGMs. The main recommendation of this paper is the addition of a third miniature munition capable of replacing 1,000-lb and 2,000-lb PGMs
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Aug 01, 2016
- Accession Number
- AD1041216
Entities
People
- Kevin P. Sweeney
Organizations
- Air Command and Staff College