Boeing says Israel eyes new U.S. bomb kit

[bemildred]

WASHINGTON, Feb 17 (Reuters) - Israel is seeking to buy a new Boeing Co (BA.N) laser kit to boost the accuracy of bombs against moving targets, and a deal is in the works, a company executive said on Tuesday.

The new system builds on the Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM), a bolt-on used by the United States, Israel and 20 other countries to turn free-fall bombs into near-precision guided "smart" weapons.

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So far, Boeing has delivered more than 212,000 JDAMS. They sell for roughly $30,000 apiece, Jaspering told Reuters after the presentation.

Tim Deaton, a spokesman for Boeing's St. Louis-based Global Strike Systems business unit, said the company was not disclosing the price of the Laser JDAM. He said Germany bought its initial batch in June 2008 as part of a direct commercial sale, not a government-to-government deal.

http://www.reuters.com/article/marketsNews/idUSN1738938520090217?rpc=401&

[azurnoir]

1. JDAM sounded familiar

it is an accessory to the GBU-38 bunker buster type bombs the US sold Israel awhile back, made to be tail mounted on an F-16

http://www.deagel.com/Bombs-and-Guidance-Kits/GBU-38-JDAM_a001074003.aspx

[bemildred]

2. Your basic GPS guided bomb.

Laser guided means a spotter can keep a laser pointed at what you want to hit while it moves. I expect there are limits to that. The cost seem a bit excessive to me.

[azurnoir]

5. Ah cleaner more accurate warfare

personally If I had my way they'de all be stripped down to swords and shields, let'um go at the old fashioned way, I wonder how many would still be willing

[bemildred]

8. Yup, loincloths and swords in an arena, last one standing wins.

I'm sure that would weed 'em out.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

3. Actually there are JDAM kits for the entire GBU family

And they do not mount on a F-16 tail...

I went through the Deagel site. Most of its crap and half right/half wrong articles.

[azurnoir]

4. No the JDAM mounts on the tail of the bomb

it converts regular freefall or gravity fall bombs into "smart bombs"

Guidance is facilitated through a tail control system and a GPS-aided inertial navigation system (INS). The navigation system is initialized by transfer alignment from the aircraft that provides position and velocity vectors from the aircraft systems. Once released from the aircraft, the JDAM autonomously navigates to the designated target coordinates.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joint_Direct_Attack_Munition

The Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) is a guidance tail kit that converts existing unguided free-fall bombs into accurate, all-weather guided bombs. The JDAM kit consists of a new tail section containing an inertial navigational system and a global positioning system (GPS) guidance control unit. JDAM can be launched from approximately 15 miles from the target and each is independently targeted. JDAM was jointly developed by the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Navy, is built by Boeing, and can be fitted to the standard Mk.80 series of free-fall bombs. Each kit costs around $18,000 (FY 1999).

http://www.f-16.net/f-16_armament_article9.html

[ProgressiveProfessor]

6. Your post said "made to be tail mounted on an F-16"

The original JDAM kits were tail only on all platforms and all GBU bodies. Newer seeker variants also have a nose component.

[azurnoir]

7. Yes I know thats why I made the second post

you only pointed out I was wrong well twice now, not what was actually correct.

[azurnoir]

9. A questiomn or wondering about the JDAM and the GBU-38

are these being used for bombing the tunnels at Rafah? If I remember the bunker busters the US is selling Israel are of the shallower penetrating type there was a thread a while back about the sale and some speculation about the use of these bombs

[ProgressiveProfessor]

10. The heavy bunker busteres are LGBs. GPS alone would not be precise enough