The latest designer weapons are small, stealthy, accurate, and lethal.

Building Better “Razor Blades”

S the Defense Department wraps up its Quadrennial De- fense Review deliberations, theA state of the art in bomb technology is sure to be a big influence in its deci- sions. Ever smaller, longer ranged, and By John A. Tirpak, Executive Editor more precise than ever, new munitions have already changed the calculus of airpower and may do so again. At the last QDR, in 2001, one of the few areas of military investment to win ringing endorsement from all the ad- visory panels were precision weapons. As President George W. Bush put it at a May 2001 Naval Academy speech, Joint Direct Attack Munitions await loading on F-16CJs at a base in Southwest the military envisioned by his Admin- Asia. The ubiquity of JDAMs, which offer all-weather precision with accuracy within istration would be “defined less by size 10 feet, has vastly improved the effectiveness of strike aircraft. and more by mobility and swiftness,

42 AIR FORCE Magazine / July 2005 New, smaller weapons will further tanks and other chemical or biologi- increase the number of targets that an cal weapons vessels that could not be aircraft can hit with precision on every destroyed with an explosive, because mission—sometimes by a factor of the blast would have scattered the four—but also confine the damage done contents over a wide area. The holes to the desired area. This last capabil- created by PAW darts would let the ity has become a critical requirement toxic materials drain into the ground as the US has engaged in large-scale for later cleanup. urban combat in Iraq over the past Such efforts are not the norm, how- USAF photo by SMSgt. Edward E. Snyder two years. ever. It usually takes about four years to bring a weapon ready to test and a On the Horizon few more to get it into production. Other new weapons now making Importantly, the weapons spigot can- their way into front-line service will not simply be turned on at a moment’s allow US fighters and bombers to shoot notice. Long lead times affect weapons from farther away, and with greater just as they do more sophisticated accuracy than ever before possible, systems, like aircraft. reducing their exposure and increas- Chedister noted that, as Operation ing the chances that the crews will Iraqi Freedom was approaching, he get back alive. was given about $1 billion to “hurry However, these systems work so well up and ... ramp up the production and that, like airpower in general, there is buy JDAM tail kits.” a danger they will be taken for granted However, the JDAM tail kit is not a and not receive the funding needed to whole bomb. The Army procures bomb stay at the cutting edge. Some have bodies for the other services, and there already been cut back, likely due to weren’t enough on hand. Nor was there misunderstanding of their purpose. adequate supply of explosive fill, then There may also be a creeping overcon- undergoing a change from standard fidence that they can accomplish more TNT to an explosive that can be handled than yet is possible. more easily. Inventories of precision weapons— There was also a shortage of crystals an ever greater portion of the munitions needed in the tail kit; these crystals came arsenal—are good, according to Maj. from a foreign supplier. Fortunately, Gen. Robert W. Chedister, Air Force “Boeing quickly went out and got an program executive officer for weapons onshore source,” Chedister recalled. and commander of USAF’s Air Arma- ment Center at Eglin AFB, Fla. Holes in the Pipeline “We’re kind of living off our stock- Eventually, Chedister was able to piles, which are pretty beefed up right organize all the elements of bomb as- now,” Chedister said. The armament sembly, and JDAM production “went center is working closely with air from a few hundred to 3,000 in just a logistics centers to make certain that few months,” he noted. However, the Building Better “Razor Blades” munitions “are staying ... available” and experience illustrated that substan- at healthy inventories, he said. tial coordination is needed to surge The numbers of munitions on hand bomb production and that the supply are classified, but Chedister said that, is somewhat dependent on the global ... [relying] more heavily on stealth, except for cruise missiles, “we’re doing marketplace. precision weaponry, and information pretty good in almost all areas.” Asked where there are “holes” in the technologies.” (See “Bomber Ques- The pace of munitions development munitions pipeline, Chedister said more tions,” September 2001, p. 38.) is averaging “a new weapon about money is needed in the research end. Then-Secretary of the Air Force James every four or five years,” Chedister “We could always use more devel- G. Roche explained at that time that new noted, although during Gulf Wars I opment money,” he said. “The muni- investments would emphasize “razor and II, new munitions designed for tions budget has gone down more, blades”—munitions—over more-ex- a specific type of target were rushed percentage-wise, than any other of the pensive “razors”—new aircraft. through development and production directorates” in the Air Force Research Four years later, the faith in these in about 90 days. Laboratory, he said. new wonder weapons is being vindi- In Operation Iraqi Freedom, two of “So, some of us worry that we’re not cated. Thanks to the highly reliable, these were the Massive Ordnance Air working on the new technologies of the extremely accurate, and now ubiquitous Blast Bomb, intended to create deadly future that we need to be.” Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM), overpressure in caves where enemies On the top of that list is fuzes, Che- each US combat aircraft already can were thought to hide, and the Passive dister said. successfully attack multiple targets on a Attack Weapon, a cluster munition that “I’m worried about the fuzes be- single mission, turning the old calculus released thousands of darts. The latter cause we’ve taken them for granted of “airplanes per target” on its head. was prepared to pierce fermentation and they’ve been so uncomplicated

AIR FORCE Magazine / July 2005 43 Operation Desert Storm in 1991, its existence and its then-unprecedented

Boeing photo guidance system—the use of Global Positioning System satellite signals— were kept secret for more than a year. Now, GPS-aided munitions—in the form of JDAMs, which come in 2,000, 1,000, and, recently, 500-pound varie- ties—equip nearly all combat wings of the service. So successful has it been in combat—not a single JDAM is known to have struck other than the programmed coordinates—that it is the targeteer’s weapon of choice. Gen. T. Michael Moseley, USAF vice chief of staff, was the air boss of Op- eration Iraqi Freedom in 2003. Shortly before the end of major operations, he said that, as impressive as JDAM was, there was a crying need for something Above, a Conventional Air Launched Cruise Missile is shown being launched from a smaller, to limit collateral damage, B-52 bomber. The CALCMs, adapted from the AGM-86B nuclear ALCMs, were the first long-range, GPS-guided weapons. especially in urban areas where a de- structive miss would pose an enormous political setback. over the years. That’s now starting to The Air Force plans to acquire about “I wish we had the 250- and 500- become a major complication [given] 4,900 JASSMs, of which 2,400 will be pound class JDAM now, but we don’t,” the sophistication we’re demanding of the “baseline” weapon, with a range of Moseley said in a teleconference to the our fuzes and the price we’re expecting more than 200 miles, and 2,500 of an Pentagon pressroom in April 2003. In [to pay].” “extended range” model that can go the incessant effort to limit unintended Already a requirement, he pointed more than 500 miles. The JASSM-ER damage in the urban setting, the Air out, is the need for data links between will have exactly the same external Force had even used precision bombs the cockpit and the fuze. In addition, dimensions as the baseline version, but filled with concrete, rather than TNT, bombs and their fuzes are expected to will feature more fuel and a different relying on the sheer kinetic force of survive penetrating “some of the hard- engine. The stealthy JASSMs have the dropping weapon to destroy the est granite overburdens” or to “count made many pinpoint hits on targets in target. floors as [they’re] going down.” Some testing, but the program slowed due to The 250-pound class weapon that weapons can already count the voids mechanical malfunctions. Moseley wished for is now in produc- they pass through as they penetrate tion, and it promises to again alter a bunker, to detonate in the desired “Vigorous Involvement” Needed the way the Air Force thinks about its space—a spin-off of the desire to reduce The program is back on track, accord- combat air fleet. collateral damage. ing to Gerry L. Freisthler, the center’s That weapon is the Small Diameter Chedister said that the fuzes on hand director of engineering. After a Red Bomb, which is more of a system than are “not smart enough, ... not rugged Team examined why some missiles a specific munition. The bomb itself enough, ... not durable enough at the failed in tests, the team determined that has about a 30-pound warhead. It is price we’ve been paying for them, both Lockheed Martin, the manufac- guided to its target by GPS, backed and we’re not putting enough money turer, and the Air Force should maintain up by an inertial guidance system. Its into the R&D of making them bet- “vigorous involvement ... with some of exact expected accuracy is classified, ter.” This is the “biggest hole in the the second- and third-tier” suppliers, but is characterized as “better” than the weapons world.” Freisthler said. JDAM’s 10 feet. To accomplish this, Although he reported that the mu- The fourth lot of JASSMs was re- it relies on differential GPS, utilizing nitions stockpile is adequate, the Air cently awarded; some 700 are now on a series of ground stations that refine Force is “running out” of AGM-86Cs, contract. the GPS signal. the Conventional Air Launched Cruise “As we start fielding more JASSMs, Missile (CALCM), Chedister said. No our cruise missile inventory is going Tunable Accuracy more of the long-range strike missiles to go ‘green’ again, and we’ll be fine,” The SDB will be so accurate, and its are to be converted from their original, Chedister asserted. effect so tunable, that it will be able to nuclear configuration. The Air Force has The JASSM is a “wooden round,” destroy a particular room in a building, seen delays in fielding the replacement, meaning it can be stored until needed, without knocking the whole building the stealthy Joint Air-to-Surface Stand- without periodic teardown inspections down and maybe not even damaging off Missile. However, JASSM seems to or parts replacements. Theoretically, it the floors above and below. have cleared some teething problems, can stay in storage for 20 years and still The SDB contract went to Boeing is in production, and was expected to work. “All you do is run a bit test and in October 2004. However, the sub- be declared operational on B-52s and you’re ready to go,” Freisthler said. sequent revelations in the Darleen possibly B-2s this year. When the CALCM was first used in A. Druyun scandal called the legiti-

44 AIR FORCE Magazine / July 2005 macy of the SDB contract into doubt. ture will be available to anybody” the Sensor Fuzed Weapon, or cluster Druyun, at the time the top civilian with a military receiver, Freisthler bombs, which have been criticized in acquisition official in the Air Force, said. “The Air Force bought the rights Congress and around the world because chose Boeing to develop the SDB. to this,” so that even if Boeing does unexploded units pose a grave risk to She later admitted she was throwing not win the second phase of SDB, the civilians after the fighting is over. work to the company that it might not selected weapon will be able to use The WCMD-ER program “does not deserve. (See “Washington Watch: the same infrastructure. build submunitions,” he said. “It’s a Acquisition Gets a Scrub Down,” In the meantime, Boeing won pro- tail kit.” There was “confusion” in January, p. 9.) Druyun is in jail for duction contracts from the Air Force the budgeting process, Freisthler said, assisting Boeing in getting Air Force in April that call for 158 SDB units the between the generic carrier and the contracts while she was still on the first year and 512 the second year, with specific weapon. government payroll. increases thereafter, Freisthler said. Regardless of what’s in the munition, Partly in response to a protest from the WCMD tail kit enables the weapon Lockheed Martin, which lost out on New Niche to strike targets far more accurately than the SDB competition, the Government He also noted that the SDB does not it could without it, Freisthler said. “We Accountability Office reviewed the replace JDAM but fills a new niche in allow a pilot to launch from 40,000 SDB contract, along with others called the weapons portfolio. However, the feet instead of down on the deck, ... into question by Druyun’s revelations. two weapons will be weighed against [and] instead of launching eight or 10 It recommended that, since Boeing’s each other in various scenarios to deter- of them to take out some convoy, he’ll development of the first phase of mine the right inventory objectives. launch two or three, maybe.” the program was a fait accompli, the In the notorious Program Budget If cluster bombs must be used, second phase of the program should Decision 753—which, among other Freisthler said, “WCMD makes it so be competed. things, slashed planned production you use less, not more. At the same “The Air Force is going to fol- of the F/A-22—the Wind-Corrected time, you keep aircrews out of harm’s low the GAO recommendations,” said Munitions Dispenser-Extended Range, way. Seems like a good idea.” Freisthler. was also terminated. The Air Force had The Air Force and the Pentagon “We’ve got a wall up, if you will: planned to build 7,500 WCMD-ERs, concurred with the armament center’s total segregation between SDB1 and Freisthler noted. proposal to finish WCMD-ER’s de- SDB2,” he explained. The second part The WCMD-ER consists of a clam- velopment and produce the first 100 of the program—previously known shell container with a tail kit on the units. That will complete the previ- as Spiral 2—calls for a similar-size back that corrects the drift of the ously funded Fiscal 2005 program but weapon which will also have a terminal weapon as it falls through the air. It goes no further. seeker and some device, likely spring- extends the release range from six The Air Force had planned to use loaded wings, to extend the range of miles to about 40 miles, depending the WCMD-ER as a substitute for the the weapon, giving it greater standoff on the aircraft’s altitude, by using stealthy Joint Standoff Weapon, from range, as well as the ability to find and spring-loaded wings, meaning the which USAF withdrew a few years hit moving targets. launch aircraft can keep farther away ago. There is no plan to go back to The Air Force is still working out from the target and its defenses. JSOW, however. an acquisition strategy for the SDB The WCMD carries submunitions. The Air Force’s new munitions program, which is expected to get a They can be antitank weapons, like are so good and require so much less go-ahead in late summer or fall. The advanced SDB program is set to begin in Fiscal 2006. Despite the tarnish of the Druyun affair, Freisthler praised the SDB project for its speed. “We set out on the most aggres- Lockheed Martin photo sive weapon development program ever undertaken, as far as I know,” he observed. “In a matter of three years, we’re going to go from start of development to a fielded weapon system ... able to go against fixed or relocatable—not moving—targets.” The program thus far also includes a new “smart rack” that will carry the weapons in groups of four, either on a wing or in a bomb bay, and the differential GPS ground stations. The improved signal from these stations can also be used to im- prove the accuracy of other weapons, The Low Cost Autonomous Attack System is a technology pathfinder for small- such as JDAM and JASSM. scale cruise missiles, laser radar, and miniaturized munitions. Derivatives may “This accuracy support infrastruc- include vehicles that loiter over the battlefield.

AIR FORCE Magazine / July 2005 45 aircraft’s computers with new software. The updates can be as much as three years apart. “We are trying to get a standard interface that allows that to be cut to a small number of months,”

Lockheed Martin illustration said Freisthler. Still another system that Eglin has been working on for a long time is the Low Cost Autonomous Attack System, or LOCAAS. This Lockheed Martin vehicle is an ACTD, meaning it is exploring technology that will either become a weapon or be a pathfinder for other systems that will use the technology it develops. The LOCAAS, which is only about three feet long, has a motor, employs a laser radar seeker, and has demon- strated that it can loiter over an area and scan for objects—such as tanks, sur- The JASSM, shown here with an F-16, is the Air Force’s stealthy cruise missile for face-to-air missiles, etc.—that match the 21st century. An extended-range model, externally indistinguishable from the templates in its database. When it finds first version, will allow stealthy attack at a range of 500 miles. one, LOCAAS can either report back to the operator for instructions or attack maintenance that the service is di- long times of flight, it makes a lot of the target. It has also demonstrated vesting itself of interim weapons that sense,” said Freisthler. the killing of targets using a shaped don’t work as well or as efficiently, Another improvement will be an- copper disk charge. Freisthler said. tijam versions of the GPS antenna So far, there is no concept of opera- Take, for example, the AGM-130 on the new weapons. Until now, if tions demanding a LOCAAS, Chedister rocket-powered glide bomb. “We’re the GPS signal was lost, the weapon said. However, it is a “showcase” for a done with those,” said Freisthler. would revert to inertial navigation concept called the Dominator, a larger “We’ve taken them out of the inven- and try to regain the GPS signal. The weapon that would loiter around the tory. Now that we have JASSM, we antijam feature will cost a bit more battlefield collecting intelligence and don’t need those.” per weapon, “but it’s something the attacking targets. The Dominator—or The same is true of the AGM-142 warfighter wants,” Freisthler noted. something like it—solves what Jumper Have Nap TV-guided 2,000-pound Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. John has called the “ ‘one time of flight’ bomb, adapted in the early 1990s from P. Jumper has described his vision of problem for fleeting targets,” Chedister the Israeli Popeye missile. aircraft flying over the battlefield, able noted. This is the notion of being able to dispense just the right weapon for to hit any target within a few minutes Next Big Thing whatever “effect” troops below call for. of the order, rather than hours. Freisthler said the “next big thing” The ability for aircraft to carry highly “It’s done everything we wanted it in USAF weapons development will be dissimilar loads is another area getting to do, and right now, we’re just wait- data links. These will allow weapons the armament center’s attention. ing to spin some of that technology to be retargeted after they have left “We’re getting very close to that,” off into something else.” the launching aircraft. Freisthler reported. “I know the lab is However, LOCAAS is an example Some weapons—like JASSM-ER working on the ability to ‘dial an ef- of the fact that the future is looking or WCMD-ER—will fly many miles fect.’ ” He also said the B-52 program smaller, Chedister said. en route to the target, which might office “for sure [is] doing work on “The rave is unmanned aerial sys- move after launch. A data link will mixed loads.” tems,” he said, and USAF has “some enable the launch aircraft to send new He explained that the Air Force is initiatives for weaponizing them.” Such coordinates fed by intelligence-surveil- now working on the Universal Arma- devices will need weapons “lighter lance-reconnaissance assets. ment Interface, which would allow all than the Small Diameter Bomb—much Conversely, “it could be you send USAF aircraft to communicate with lighter.” The armament center is ready [it] a new seeker image. ... It could be any new weapon hung on their racks. to work on “as small a weapon that [that] you get video from it and can It would be analogous to a “plug and anyone needs, for as small of a micro- do something with that.” play” peripheral to a computer. UAV as anybody wants.” He noted that He said an advanced concept tech- there are some UAVs that can only nology demonstration (ACTD) is being Cut the Tape carry a few ounces of payload, “and prepared that would experiment with “Right now, if we want to put a we’ll be glad to go work on a weapon a universal data link that would work new weapon or a major change to a that would only weigh ounces.” on all weapons, so that there won’t be weapon on an airplane, we have to get The area of weaponizing UAVs is an “a gigantic pile of equipment because in line for the next OFP update, right?” “exploding market area, ... [and] we’re every data link is different.” said Freisthler. The Operational Flight going to get into it as big and furious Given that “all these weapons have Program is a periodic reloading of an and fast as we can,” he asserted. n

46 AIR FORCE Magazine / July 2005