Iraqi civilian and military personnel perished in the destruction of Taji #2. But it's certain that the GBU-28/B did the job exactly as designed; it was an unqualified success.
With the war won, the quick-reaction program transitioned to a more normal type of USAF procurement. Approximately twenty-eight additional sets of BLU-113/Bs and GBU-28/B kits were produced so that a proper test program could be conducted. And some additional units were kept in reserve for combat use, should the need arise. In addition, the Air Force has contracted with TI for an additional one hundred GBU-28/B guidance kits; and a firm up in Pennsylvania is forging one hundred new production BLU- 113/B warheads to go along. The idea is to provide U.S. national command authorities with a non-nuclear option to hit hardened targets like command bunkers and missile silos with precision munitions that do not generate a lot of collateral damage.
It's a staggering idea, and it is all due to the original vision of folks like Weldon Word, and his idea for a bomb with a beam of light for its guide. As for the future of the Paveway-series weapons, they may finally be coming to the end of the line. While new Paveway III kits are being manufactured by TI for U.S. and overseas customers, there are no new versions planned. The tactical limitations of LGBs, along with the rapid maturing of GPS technology, is making satellite navigation the guidance system of choice for the next generation of U.S. precision munitions. Nevertheless, Paveway LGBs will be the backbone of the USAF PGM capability well into the next century.
The Future: JSOW and JDAM
By now your head may be hurting slightly from the array of air-to-ground munitions in the previous pages. For what it is worth, USAF strike planners have similar problems when they consider the targets that need to be struck, the damage required to negate those targets, and the weapons required to do the job.
The folks down at Eglin AFB, Florida, who run the conventional munitions programs for the Air Force, are attacking the problem of what kinds of bombs to develop and buy. In particular, they're trying to buy fewer kinds of weapons that do more kinds of things. That was the basis for the TMD series of CBUs like the CBU-87/B, as well as the Paveway III-series guidance kits; and it's at the core of the development of new weapons.
Several new and exciting kinds of air-to-ground weapons are being prepared for service with the Air Force. As might be expected in these days of limited budget dollars, weapons are usually joint-service ventures like the AIM-9X. In addition, they have been designed with many of the following criteria in mind:
• The use wherever possible of available, off-the-shelf components and technologies to lower risks and costs.
• Safe carriage and employment on the widest possible range of aircraft from all services, including fighters, bombers, and even attack helicopters.
• Improved accuracy over existing types of weapons, without the requirement of designation or data link guidance equipment.
• Enhanced weapons-delivery options, including greater standoff range and less exposure of the delivery aircraft to enemy air defenses.
With these requirements in mind, let's explore two new programs that the Air Force is getting ready to put into service in the next few years.
The first of these is the ultimate answer to the problem of delivering cluster munitions into an impossibly heavy air defense environment, the AGM- 154 Joint Standoff Weapon (JSOW). JSOW is the result of a joint Air Force/Navy/Marine effort to produce a new munitions dispenser which can be launched at long range toward the target, completely outside the range of enemy defenses. It started life as a Navy/Marine program called the Advanced Interdiction Weapons System (AIWS), which had a requirement for a full man-in-the-loop data link control system like the GBU-15. Texas Instruments won the AIWS competition in 1991, and in 1992, the AIWS requirement and program was merged with the Air Force's own standoff cluster munitions program to become JSOW. Like the TMD, it is designed to function as a submunition 'truck,' capable of carrying a wide variety of payloads; it can also be used from almost any tactical or bomber aircraft of any service. The key to JSOW is a technology I have often praised, the NAVSTAR Global Positioning System (GPS), which will be the primary baseline guidance system for every variant of the AGM-154. For the first time in history, a satellite navigation system will guide a weapon throughout its entire flight, from launch to weapons impact.
The AGM-154 is composed of a nose section containing the GPS-based guidance and flight control system, a weapons carriage bay topped by a folding planar wing system to provide lift during flight, and an aft guidance fin section. The 13.3 foot/4.1 meter-long JSOW, while not exactly stealthy, is definitely of a low-observable design. As designed, the JSOW is capable of gliding unpowered for up to 40 nm./73.1 km. before delivering its load of submunitions on target. Guidance accuracy for the GPS-based system is expected to be within 32.8 feet/10 meters in three dimensions, more than good enough for delivery of cluster weapons. The GPS-based guidance systems used on the new generation of precision munitions are actually hybrid systems, with a GPS receiver feeding positional updates to a small strapdown inertial guidance system which actually controls the flight-control system. In this way, the weapon can continue to the target with acceptable accuracy should the GPS system fail or be jammed.
Currently, two versions of the AGM-154 have been approved for production, one loaded with 145 BLU-97/B CEMs and the other with six of the BLU-108/B SFWs. These are expected to enter service late in the 1990s. There are also plans to produce versions with large (1,000 lb./454.5 kg.) unitary warhead and terminal guidance systems. Given the recent cancellation of the AGM-137 Tri-Service Standoff Attack Missile (TSSAM), this idea has to be considered a possibility. The new Northrop Brilliant Anti-Tank (BAT) weapon, which homes in on the sounds of enemy vehicles, and the Gator mine have also been considered for use on JSOW. And there are growth provisions for the addition of rocket and turbojet motors to extend range, as well as the possibility of enlarging the weapons carriage bay. There have even been proposals to produce 'non-lethal' versions of JSOW, to provide logistical support for forward deployed troops such as special operations forces. Before you laugh too hard, consider how many Meals, Ready-to-Eat would fit into the 5.7 foot/1.7 meter-long bay of an AGM-154. It may be the ultimate expression of the statement that 'every bomb is a political bomb.'
The other munitions program the Air Force has pinned its hopes to is the Joint Direct Attack Munition System, or JDAM. Trust me when I say this, JDAM is
The idea is to produce a weapons family with the accuracy of the early LGBs, utilizing only a GPS/strapdown inertial-guidance system to find the target. This is the critical requirement. For the first time, aircraft without a laser-designator or data-link pod will be able to deliver precision weapons onto known targets. And it will do so without exposing the launching aircraft to direct fire by enemy defenses. Thus, stealth aircraft like the F-117A, F-22A, and B-2A will be able to use JDAM without generating telltale data link or laser designator emissions which might be detected by an enemy.
The basic features of the baseline JDAM family of weapons (called Phase I) include the following:
• 32.8 foot/10 meter three-dimensional accuracy at the point of impact.
• A common guidance kit for every version of the weapon, independent of the warhead used.
