Forum: F-35 Armament, Stores and Tactics

Boeing Winged Joint Direct Attack Munition Completes 1st Round of Tests 30 Aug 2012

http://boeing.mediaroom.com/index.php?s ... ;item=2397

"JDAM-ER developed with Australia has glide range of more than 40 miles
Boeing to produce and integrate wing kits in-country for RAAF

ST. LOUIS, Aug. 30, 2012 -- A winged version of the Boeing [NYSE: BA] Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) that will triple the weapon's glide range to more than 40 miles is a step closer to production after completing wind tunnel tests at a U.S. facility in June.

Developed in partnership with the Commonwealth of Australia, the 500-pound JDAM Extended Range (JDAM-ER) features a modular add-on wing kit that will unfold in flight. The kit can also be coupled with other modular enhancements, such as laser sensors. The wings were first integrated with the Boeing JDAM during the Commonwealth's Capability and Technology Demonstration program, which successfully completed flight tests in 2008.

Boeing will produce and integrate the JDAM-ER wing kits for the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) under a contract awarded in 2011. The kits will be built in Australia, with initial deliveries expected to begin in early 2015.

"Boeing and our Australian partners have worked closely together to employ affordable technology and the leanest manufacturing processes to cost-effectively enhance JDAM’s capabilities," said Debbie Rub, Boeing vice president and general manager for Missiles and Unmanned Airborne Systems. "The JDAM-ER effectively meets the needs of the Commonwealth by providing a greater stand-off capability and making it safer for pilots to prosecute their missions on today’s ever-changing battlefields."

"By successfully transitioning this technology from prototype to production, the Australian Defence Force will be able to further reduce the risk to its personnel on operations, allowing RAAF aircrew to engage their targets from beyond the range of enemy air defences," said Jason Clare, Australia’s Minister for Defence Materiel. "These enhancements will increase the ability of the RAAF to strike more targets in fewer sorties."

JDAM is a low-cost guidance kit that converts existing unguided bombs into near- precision weapons. Boeing intentionally designed its JDAM kit to be modular so the product could mature with a variety of technological upgrades such as a laser sensor, improved immunity to GPS jamming, and an all-weather radar sensor...."

That's it.

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I won't be surprised if that 40-mile figure is conservatively understated.

popcorn wrote:

I won't be surprised if that 40-mile figure is conservatively understated.

I wouldn't tell. Enemy uncertainty on the range of your weapons can be a major advantage.

However this is the internet age and this is one example of public knowledge.

JDAM-ER wind tunnel flight-testing for autopilot control

http://www.dsto.defence.gov.au/attachme ... er_web.pdf (3.2Mb)

"DSTO carried out wind tunnel testing earlier this year on the Joint Direct Attack Munition – Extended Range (JDAM-ER) to generate an aerodynamic database for the design of an auto-pilot flight control system.

The JDAM-ER is a Capability and Technology Demonstrator Program project aimed at giving the Australian Defence Force a low-cost, autonomous, precision air-to-ground guided weapon capability.

DSTO’s wind tunnel testing services are being provided to Boeing Aerostructures Australia (formerly Hawker de Havilland Australia Pty Ltd) in support of its work to integrate a strap-on wing kit with a conventional MK-82 225-kilogram guided bomb – a concept originally developed by DSTO in the late 1980s. The kit provides the bomb with glide flight capability after release from the launch aircraft, thereby extending its strike range to more than triple the range of the standard JDAM.

A model JDAM-ER at 27.8% scale was subjected to testing in DSTO’s Transonic Wind Tunnel over a wide range of Mach numbers covering a variety of flight conditions.

The latest configuration of the JDAM-ER features a revised wing kit mount location from where it was in previous tests. This was found to provide better control characteristics of the vehicle, thus achieving even better performance over that demonstrated during a successful flight trial undertaken last year.

The wind tunnel test contributes directly to Air Project 5425, assisting investigations by the Defence Materiel Organisation into the suitability of JDAM-ER for possible acquisition."

so what happens when the sa-10 can target your "super" jdam? youre fucked....up close and personel. GB-24's bitches...thats the way to go

deadseal wrote:

so what happens when the sa-10 can target your "super" jdam? youre fucked....up close and personel. GB-24's bitches...thats the way to go

Eh... what Question

So for how long can one swap precious and finite SA-10s for low-cost JDAMs? IIRC, the Pentagon's intention is to stockpile up to 100,000 JDAM kkts.

count_to_10 wrote:

popcorn wrote:

I won't be surprised if that 40-mile figure is conservatively understated.

I wouldn't tell. Enemy uncertainty on the range of your weapons can be a major advantage.

Not a munitions expert.
Is there a standard Altitude and release Velocity that is used to standardize these flight distance claims?

From,what I read about early tests of JDAM-ER using early wing kit designs, they easily achieved an 8:1 glide ratio. So the 40 mile glide range can easily be exceeded the higher the bomb is released. Would love to,see,how far it would travel released at the aircraft's max,speed and,altitude.

popcorn wrote:

So for how long can one swap precious and finite SA-10s for low-cost JDAMs? IIRC, the Pentagon's intention is to stockpile up to 100,000 JDAM kkts.

Yeah, to me it has seemed pretty clear for a while how the US intends to deal with more advanced IADS. They are going to swamp it with medium and long range weapons. Huge numbers of JDAM's, SDB's, JSOW's, JASSM's, TLAM's and MALD's are going to be fired at key points of the system and F-22's, B-2's and F-35's are going to hunt the parts that go active as the system attempts to defend itself.

Frankly I don't see an IADS that is going to standup to what the US could throw at it right now. If there are time critical aspects to what is happening then possibly, but if the US has time to make a planned and measured attack on that system it just has too many weapons and platforms to deliver them en mass.

popcorn wrote:

From,what I read about early tests of JDAM-ER using early wing kit designs, they easily achieved an 8:1 glide ratio. So the 40 mile glide range can easily be exceeded the higher the bomb is released. Would love to,see,how far it would travel released at the aircraft's max,speed and,altitude.

If you really want to max out the range, you can also pull up just be for release to give it an initial upward trajectory.

Forum: F-35 Armament, Stores and Tactics

The CEP of JDAM