Air Force mulls GPS-guided ship-killing bomb for future conflicts against major powers opponents like China
EGLIN AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. – As the military shifts its attention to competing against the world's major navies, the Air Force is working on a new weapon: a ship-killing GPS-guided bomb. Business Insider reports. Continue reading original article
The Military & Aerospace Electronics take:
20 Sept. 2021 -- On August 26, the Air Force Research Laboratory tested the ability to use modified 2,000-pound GBU-31 Joint Direct Attack Munitions, or JDAMs, on stationary and moving targets on the water.
Three F-15E Strike Eagle fighters from the Eglin Air Force Base, Florida-based 85th Test and Evaluation Squadron, armed with dummy versions of the bomb, tried out a slew of different ways of using it, looking to prove it would work.
The development of the GPS-guided weapon comes at a time when the military is largely moving away from the last two decades of fighting land-based militant groups in the Middle East and toward preparing for potential conflicts against major powers.
Related: Smart munitions development relies heavily on MEMS technology
John Keller, chief editor
Military & Aerospace Electronics