THE HANDSTAND

MAY 2007

THE JDAM

  • Common low cost guidance control unit for MK-83/BLU-110, MK-84 and BLU-109 Sized to fit MK-82 form factor
  • Highly integrated tail kit enhances JDAM affordability
  • Strakes provide maneuverable airframe and full jettison and release envelope

    U.S. to sell smart bombs to Saudi Arabia

    The Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) guidance kit is a low-cost guidance kit that converts existing unguided free-fall bombs into accurately guided "smart"
    weapons. Since 1998, Boeing has produced more than 150,000 JDAM tail kits.

    Capabilities and Components

    The JDAM kit consists of a new tail section that contains an Inertial Navigation System/Global Positioning System that:

    • Utilizes global positioning system (GPS) technology
    • Can be launched miles from a target
    • Relies on the navigation system to update its trajectory all the way to impact
    • Is used with MK-83/BLU-110, MK-84, BLU-109 and MK-82 warheads

    Utilization

    Currently JDAM is ordered by the U.S. Department of Defense for use by the U.S. Air Force, U.S. Navy, and U.S. Marine Corps. JDAM also has 18 international customers. Anticipated applications and development plans include the following tasks:

    • Integrating the kits for use with additional aircraft
    • Extending the range
    • Reducing the size
    • Improving the accuracy
    • Adding low-cost terminal guidance
    • Adding a laser sensor.

    Very accurate and highly reliable, JDAM can be delivered in virtually any weather condition.

    For more information, read the Joint Direct Attack Munition (PDF) overview.

    For more information, read the Laser Joint Direct Attack Munition (PDF) overview.

    www.Boeing.com


    Date: Fri, 20 Apr 2007 06:22:03 +0100 From:

    Gates: U.S. to sell smart bombs to Saudi Arabia

    Ze'ev Schiff , Haaretz, 20/04/2007 http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/850746.html

    U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said during his visit to Israel that Washington has decided to sell Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) bombs to Saudi Arabia, Haaretz has learned. A recent discussion in Washington raised the possibility that Jerusalem would ask the U.S. not to sell the satellite-guided smart bombs to the Saudis, but it was decided to reject this request. The Israel Air Force itself has purchased the high-accuracy JDAMs, and used them against Hezbollah targets during the Second Lebanon War.

    Defense Minister Amir Peretz expressed Israel's opposition to the sale of the weapons to Saudi or other Persian Gulf states during his visit to the U.S. a few weeks ago. Peretz said Israel was concerned the weapons might fall into terrorist hands. Israel also argues that the presence of such weapons in the Arab countries undermines Washington's pledge that Israel will enjoy a qualitative edge in the region - attained mainly by the possession of advanced weaponry.

    Articles by Arab security experts in the Western and the Arab press recently have argued that Israel's opposition to the sale of advanced arms to the Arab states has placed the country in a strategic contradiction. According to the head of the Kuwait Center for Strategic Studies, Dr. Sami al-Faraj, various countries in the Gulf have armed themselves as a deterrent against Iran, but while Israel has a great interest in creating focuses of deterance against Iran, it expresses automatic opposition when other countries seek to obtain these weapons.

    Washington has rejected such requests from Israel before: surrounding the sale of AWACs and advanced F-16s to Saudi Arabia, and Harpoon missiles to Egypt. Arab experts say satellite-guided weapons can be purchased from Europe or Russia, although there is no comparison between European and Russian technology and that of the U.S. The main component of the JDAM is not the bomb itself, but rather its tail kit, which can also be installed on an ordinary bomb. The target location is fed to the system by satellite, which can also be done by computer during flight. The computer determines the best moment for the pilot to release the bomb. Pilots and other experts say this type of bomb "can be aimed through a window."

    Rowan Berkeley <rowan.berkeley@googlemail.com>
    [ note the characteristic Jewish bluff : "Washington's pledge that Israel will enjoy a qualitative edge in the region" is fictitious - RB]