Air Force asks Raytheon to ramp-up production of radar- and infrared-guided StormBreaker smart munitions
EGLIN AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. – Smart munitions designers at RTX Corp. are ramping-up production of the GBU-53/B StormBreaker radar- and infrared-guided air-to-ground missiles under terms of a potential $325 million order announced in July.
Officials of the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., are asking the RTX Raytheon segment in Tucson, Ariz., for the StormBreaker Small Diameter Bomb (SDB) II.
Like the GPS-guided GBU-39 SDB I already integrated on the F-35 joint strike fighter, the 208-pound StormBreaker is six to seven inches in diameter. This size can fit eight StormBreaker munitions in the F-35’s confined internal weapon bays. If stealth is not a factor, about 16 more can fit on the F-35's wings.
The StormBreaker air-to-ground smart weapon with multimode seeker can hit moving targets in bad weather. The winged munition autonomously detects and classifies moving targets in darkness, rain, fog, smoke or dust.
The smart munition for guidance uses millimeter wave active radar homing, semi-active laser guidance, infrared homing with an uncooled imaging infrared camera, GPS-coupled inertial guidance, and radio data-links back to the aircraft.
Its millimeter wave radar detects and tracks targets through weather; imaging infrared provides enhanced target discrimination; and its semi-active laser enables the weapon to track a laser designator on the aircraft, or on the ground.
The tri-mode seekers share targeting information among all three modes to engage fixed or moving targets any time, and in any weather. The weapon can also fly more than 45 miles to strike mobile targets.
The StormBreaker can launch from the F-35, as well as from the Navy the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet carrier-based jet fighter-bomber. It also is officially approved for operational use on the Air Force F-15E jet fighter-bomber.
On this order RTX Raytheon will do the work in Tucson, Ariz., and should be finished by December 2026. For more information contact RTX Raytheon online at www.rtx.com/raytheon, or the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center at www.aflcmc.af.mil.
John Keller | Editor-in-Chief
John Keller is the Editor-in-Chief, Military & Aerospace Electronics Magazine--provides extensive coverage and analysis of enabling electronics and optoelectronic technologies in military, space and commercial aviation applications. John has been a member of the Military & Aerospace Electronics staff since 1989 and chief editor since 1995.
