Forum: F-35 Armament, Stores and Tactics

Quote:

Raytheon, US Air Force complete Small Diameter Bomb II fit check on F-35 aircraft
22 Jan 2013

"Test shows SDB II is compatible with Joint Strike Fighter PR Newswire
EGLIN AIR FORCE BASE, Fla., Jan. 22, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- The U.S. Air Force and Raytheon Company (NYSE: RTN) successfully completed a fit check of the GBU-53/B Small Diameter Bomb II on the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter aircraft. During the test, four SDB II shapes were loaded into an F-35 weapon bay alongside an Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missile. Sweeps of the inboard and outboard bay doors verified there was adequate clearance between the two weapons.

"Completion of the fit check is critical because it further validates SDB II's compatibility with the F-35 and keeps SDB II on track for a smooth transition to production," said Harry Schulte, Raytheon Missile Systems' vice president of Air Warfare Systems. "Once fielded, SDB II will provide the warfighter with an unprecedented capability to precisely strike moving targets in adverse weather conditions and through battlefield obscurants."

SDB II is designed to be carried by a host of 4th- and 5th-generation aircraft, including the U.S. Air Force F-15E; the U.S. Marine Corps variant of the Joint Strike Fighter, F-35B; and the U.S. Navy F-35C. The GBU-53/B is also compatible with the Air Force F-35A, F/A-22 and F-16C/D, as well as the Navy F/A-18E/F.

SDB II can hit targets from a range of greater than 40 nautical miles. It has a powerful warhead capable of destroying armored targets, yet keeps collateral damage to a minimum through a small explosive footprint. It is highly accurate and offers warfighters the flexibility to change targets, due to a datalink that passes mid-flight updates to the weapon.

About SDB IISDB II's integrated tri-mode seeker, which is built in Raytheon's automated tri-mode seeker factory, fuses millimeter-wave radar, uncooled imaging infrared and semiactive laser sensors on a single gimbal, which enables the weapon to seek and destroy targets, despite weather conditions.

The Department of Defense has validated SDB II as a weapon that meets a critical warfighter need. SDB II will hit moving targets in adverse weather from standoff ranges. SDB II employs an uncooled tri-mode seeker. The DOD has invested more than $700 million in the SDB II program...."

Source: http://www.equities.com/news/headline-s ... p;cat=tech

That is it - PRblurb.

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Think the SDB-II to the F-35 will be what the AGM-65 is to the A-10. They capped the production of the SDB-I at 12,000 which seems low to me. Wonder if the initial production of the -II will be greater?

marksengineer wrote:

Think the SDB-II to the F-35 will be what the AGM-65 is to the A-10. They capped the production of the SDB-I at 12,000 which seems low to me. Wonder if the initial production of the -II will be greater?

Honestly once the SDB-II was about ready the I became obsolete. I would expect they would be held back to use primarily in large mass attacks on fixed targets like airbases or IADS networks in the future where their main value will be that you could fling them at the enemy in the hundreds. The SDB-II is the weapon everyone really wanted in the end, basically a cheap, do it all round that can engage almost any type of target. When you use up the supply of I's you will just replace them with II's that can do all the same missions and a lot more.

Don't think the SDB-II is designed for penetration like the SDB-I is. The -II has a shaped charge warhead where as the -I has a hardened casing. Other than for those targets that are physically hardened I'd agree the -II can replace the -I.

The I would be better for penetrating buildings .. Solid head vs seeker head.

marksengineer wrote:

Think the SDB-II to the F-35 will be what the AGM-65 is to the A-10. They capped the production of the SDB-I at 12,000 which seems low to me. Wonder if the initial production of the -II will be greater?

SDB-1's low production has to do with the program's early history. Darlene Druyan was convicted for corruption when she altered the program's requirements to give the Boeing entry the advantage. With the program already in an advanced stage of development, the AF decided to to procure a limited number of the boeing SDB-I version, and then switch over to the more advanced SDB-II.

Will 4x SDB II fit 'internally' in the USMC F-35B version as well, 'alongside' 1 AMRAAM?

Is 12,000 SDB I too few? SDB II procurement planned number is 12k for the AF, 5k for Navy. Not that many either but should be seen in the context that no war has ever used that many PGMs. The whole of Ops Iraqi Freedom used only 19,948 PGMs. The Navy already plans to get 11,000 GBU-54s for DAMTC.

What I can't figure out is USAF designating F-15E as the threshold a/c rather than F-35A. Maybe they just want to get it earlier which suggests the stand-off capability is more important than the bigger bang LJDAMs provide.

The production total of 12,000 just seemed low to me when you look at the JDAM totals or that of the GBU-12 over the years. My thoughts were that it was to replace the GBU-12 in it's role in attacking mobile targets and light stationary ones. From a one war pespective it's certainly enough. The GBU-12 has been in production for about 40 years?

weasel1962 wrote:

What I can't figure out is USAF designating F-15E as the threshold a/c rather than F-35A. Maybe they just want to get it earlier which suggests the stand-off capability is more important than the bigger bang LJDAMs provide.

Three reasons:

1. The F-15E is here now, in operation.
2. The F-15E is the lead developmental fighter for UAI and all F-15Es have UAI Blk1.
3. In order for the SDB2 to be ready for F-35 Blk4, it has to be certified UAI.

marksengineer wrote:

The production total of 12,000 just seemed low to me when you look at the JDAM totals or that of the GBU-12 over the years. My thoughts were that it was to replace the GBU-12 in it's role in attacking mobile targets and light stationary ones. From a one war pespective it's certainly enough. The GBU-12 has been in production for about 40 years?

Yup. 238,000 JDAMs (as at Sept 2012) or ~17k annual production rate is quite high. That's for 27 nations though but not surprising when kits go for $18k. The entire production run probably cost less than 2 sqns of F-35s.

The LJDAM is already an improvement over the GBU-12. It can more accurately engage vehicles travelling at higher speeds. The JDAM has a slight range advantage over the GBU-12. The ER version will have almost similar range to the SDB-2. Plus TERs allow multiple carriage. More importantly, its only the added cost of a laser seeker for an LJDAM (since there's like 1XXk JDAMs already in inventory). The huge stock of JDAMs may explain why fewer SDBs required. I can understand the need for SDB2 in the F-35 (internal carriage) but F-15E? CFTs allow 12x LJDAMs with multiple targeting capability.

Forum: F-35 Armament, Stores and Tactics

Small Diameter Bomb II fit check on F-35 OK