Addition extends weapon’s range

  • Published
  • By Jake Swinson
  • Air Armament Center Public Affairs
EGLIN AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. (AFPN) --  Workers here have begun work to create greater range and accuracy for wind-corrected munitions dispensers.

Area attack systems program office workers are helping design and develop wings for the dispensers as well as adding a global positioning system to aid the weapon’s inertial-guidance system.

Both the CBU-103 sensor-fuzed weapon and the CBU-105 combined-effects munition can use the new GPS-enhanced guidance kit to give them greater accuracy when they are launched from high altitudes.

The wings will give the direct-attack weapons greater range and standoff capability.

The extended-range dispensers are scheduled for delivery to Air Combat Command beginning in late 2006 through 2012, according to Col. James Knox, office director. Flight testing is scheduled to begin in 2005 on the F-16 Fighting Falcon and B-52 Stratofortress.

"There were no accuracy problems with (the direct attack CBU-103 or CBU-105) reported in Operation Iraqi Freedom, but the need for a standoff version exists," Knox said. "In OIF, we achieved air superiority, and later air supremacy, really quickly. We weren't faced with a significant air-defense problem. So the use of direct-attack weapons such as the CBU-103 and CBU-105 was not an issue.

"In the future, however, when we are faced with more extensive integrated air-defense systems for an area-attack weapon, standoff capability will show itself,” he said.

“That gives combat aircrews more flexibility and survivability," Knox said.

The Air Force plans to purchase 7,500 dispenser kits. Besides the F-16 and B-52, the weapon is expected to be used on the F-15E Strike Eagle and other aircraft, Knox said. (Courtesy of Air Force Materiel Command News Service)