Raytheon hardening SDB II smart munitions against electromagnetic jamming and cyber attack
EGLIN AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. –Smart munitions experts at the Raytheon Co. are upgrading an Air Force and Navy air-to-ground weapon to enhance its resistance to electromagnetic jamming and cyber attacks, as well as its ability to resist the ill effects of component obsolescence.
Officials of the Armament Directorate of the U.S. Air Force Life Cycle Management Center at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., announced a $450 million 7-year sole-source contract Wednesday to the Raytheon Missile Systems segment in Tucson Ariz., for the major upgrade to the Small Diameter Bomb II (SDB II).
The contract involves SDB II production changes that address parts obsolescence, cyber security, navigation upgrades, information security, and communications security.
The SDB II is a munition small enough to be dropped from unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and other small military aircraft, and is able to hit moving targets with an advanced precision guided munition seeker that blends millimeter-wave radar, uncooled imaging infrared sensors, and semi-active laser.
Related: Air Force asks Raytheon to provide another batch of small diameter bomb smart munitions
SDB II provides an air-launched, standoff precision-strike weapon to defeat moving and fixed targets in during the day, at night, and in bad weather. The SDB initially will go aboard the Air Force F-15E Strike Eagle, the Navy carrier-based F-35C jet, the Navy F/A-18E/F fighter-bomber, and the Marine Corps F-35B jump jet. The 250-pound, 6-foot,, 7.5-inch-diameter SDB-II smart munition also is suitable for the latest version of the Predator UAV.
The SDB II's tri-mode seeker can switch between its millimeter wave radar, imaging infrared, and semi-active laser guidance. The seeker works in three modes: millimeter wave radar to detect and track targets through weather; imaging infrared for enhanced target discrimination; and semi-active laser that enables the weapon to track an airborne laser designator in the air or on the ground.
This seeker shares targeting information among all three modes, enabling the weapon to engage fixed or moving targets during the day, at night, in bad weather, or in dusty conditions.
The weapon can fly more than 45 miles to strike mobile targets. Raytheon began deliveries of the SDB II 2013. The small size of the munition helps reduce the radar signatures of the aircraft that carry it.
On this contract Raytheon engineers will undertake hardware and software design and development, aircraft integration, testing, modeling, and simulation. Raytheon will integrate a Military Code and Enhanced Anti-Jam (M-Code and EAJ) receiver on the SDB II, as well as meet National Security Agency (NSA) cryptographic modernization mandates.
These enhancements also should upgrade the SDB II's capabilities in GPS and data link encryption, data link networking, Joint Mission Planning System (JMPS), Common Munitions Built-in Test Re-Programming Equipment (CMBRE), Air Operations Center (AOC), and Joint Terminal Attack Controller (JTAC).
On this contract Raytheon will do the work in Tucson, Ariz., and should be finished by August 2024. For more information contact Raytheon Missile Systems online at www.raytheon.com, or the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center's Armament Division at www.eglin.af.mil/About-Us/Fact-Sheets/Display/Article/390947/armament-directorate.
Ready to make a purchase? Search the Military & Aerospace Electronics Buyer's Guide for companies, new products, press releases, and videos
John Keller | Editor
John Keller is editor-in-chief of Military & Aerospace Electronics magazine, which provides extensive coverage and analysis of enabling electronic and optoelectronic technologies in military, space, and commercial aviation applications. A member of the Military & Aerospace Electronics staff since the magazine's founding in 1989, Mr. Keller took over as chief editor in 1995.
