Air Warfare

USAF orders integration and test work for StormBreaker

6th April 2021 - 15:47 GMT | by The Shephard News Team

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StormBreaker warhead, pictured in a 2020 test. (Photo: Raytheon)

Raytheon will deliver GBU-53/B All-Up Round test vehicles and other equipment by April 2023.

Raytheon Missiles & Defense will conduct integration and test work on the GBU-53/B StormBreaker precision-guided glide bomb (previously known as the Small Diameter Bomb II) under a $79.4 million sole-source contract from the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center.

The company will deliver All-Up Round (AUR) test vehicles, perform AUR-level assembly, checkout, testing and systems integration testing; and prepare multiple engineering changes such as National Security Agency cryptographic modernisation, GPS military code, mitigation of part obsolescence, and design changes evolving from production and/or operations.

Work is expected to be completed by 1 April 2023.

StormBreaker employs a tri-mode seeker that uses imaging IR and millimetre-wave radar in its normal mode, according to Shephard Defence Insight. The weapon can also deploy a semi-active laser or GPS guidance to hit targets.

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