Posted by Courtney E. Howard
WASHINGTON, 29 Aug. 2011. Raytheon Company (NYSE:RTN) engineers have completed laboratory integration and testing of the company’s Small Tactical Munition (STM) Phase II configuration. Raytheon’s smallest air-launched weapon, STM Phase II is a 12-pound, 21.5-inch long, precision-guided, gravity-dropped bomb designed to be deployed from manned and unmanned aircraft systems. Company officials anticipate flight tests later this year.
"STM Phase II was designed from the ground up to blend lethality and extreme precision with affordability, making it highly attractive to the warfighter," says Bob Francois, vice president of Advanced Missiles and Unmanned Systems for Raytheon Missile Systems. "STM is part of Raytheon's broad portfolio of air-launched weapons and is easy to use because it's designed for rapid integration and engineered for improved operator system interface and flexibility in loadout."
STM Phase II is two inches shorter than the Phase I design, has foldable fins and wings, and can fit in the U.S. military's common launch tube. Its new, purpose-built warhead, designed by Nammo-Talley in Washington, and features a Kaman Aerospace enhanced electronic safe arm device. Further, STM Phase II is easier to assemble and manufacture on a large scale than the Phase I device.
