Small-Diameter Bomb Ready For War On Terror

US Air Force, WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE: Four major acquisition programs — developed in parallel — have come together to provide Air Force F-15E Strike Eagle crews with a revolutionary capability that combines accuracy and reduced collateral damage.

Military and civilian employees in seven locations worked together developing the four new capabilities — small-diameter bomb, advanced display core processor, joint mission planning system and the operational flight program software, better known as Suite 5. The final, combined product, which includes four additional smart weapons stations, was delivered to Air Force pilots at Royal Air Force Lakenheath, England, last month, eight weeks ahead of schedule and $26.9 million under budget.

“If you would have put all of us in a room last summer and asked us how we were going to make (the deadline), we probably would've said, 'This is new territory for all of us,'” said George Spencer, the 912th Aeronautical Systems Group director in charge of F-15 systems here. “Because of all the things going on, there were some significant hurdles we had to overcome, but we had a team of seven organizations that were fully committed to making this program succeed.”

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