Article

2005-04-25 Home Front: Tech

$18.5M for Initial Production of Small Diameter Bomb System

Archived material is restricted to Rantburg regulars and members. If you need access email fred.pruitt=at=gmail.com with your nick to be added to the members list. There is no charge to join Rantburg as a member.

Posted by Steve 2005-04-25 8:26:28 AM|| || Front Page|| [6 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#1 I guess I should be disappointed that Boeing got it, rather than we. OTOP, it's more important that we have the ability to reach out and touch someone than I get a bigger bonus.

Posted by Jackal 2005-04-25 8:50:41 AM|| [http://home.earthlink.net/~sleepyjackal/index.html] 2005-04-25 8:50:41 AM|| Front Page Top

#2 This might prove useful in Iran ya think?

Posted by CrazyFool 2005-04-25 9:02:00 AM|| 2005-04-25 9:02:00 AM|| Front Page Top

#3 The smart spears are here.

Posted by john 2005-04-25 9:43:05 AM|| 2005-04-25 9:43:05 AM|| Front Page Top

#4 The size and accuracy of SDBs allows aircraft to carry more munitions to more targets and strike them more effectively with less collateral damage.

Possibly a double-edged sword.

Posted by Bomb-a-rama 2005-04-25 10:32:09 AM|| 2005-04-25 10:32:09 AM|| Front Page Top

#5 Bomb-a-rama, that strikes me as a win-win. Why would it be a double-edged sword?

Posted by Jonathan 2005-04-25 3:18:34 PM|| [http://www.emessell.typepad.com/muddling] 2005-04-25 3:18:34 PM|| Front Page Top

#6 Why would it be a double-edged sword?
Because he thinks you can never have too much collateral damage. Don't worry, Bomb-a-rama, as Al Capone would say, "Somedays youse needs a icepick, and somedays youse need to go upside their head with a baseball bat."

Posted by Steve 2005-04-25 4:01:39 PM|| 2005-04-25 4:01:39 PM|| Front Page Top

#7 Lol Steve. Exactal

Posted by Shipman 2005-04-25 6:28:04 PM|| 2005-04-25 6:28:04 PM|| Front Page Top

#8 Would it be possible to speed up production against the response called for that proposed Iranian nuclear EMP attack?

Also, I can't decode the jargon, but can it be used by Navy ships, too?

Posted by trailing wife 2005-04-25 7:03:05 PM|| 2005-04-25 7:03:05 PM|| Front Page Top

#9 Because he thinks you can never have too much collateral damage.

Sometimes an oppoenent in war needs to be made to feel beaten and humiliated, and that means an extra helping of bomb damage, to the target AND nearby structures. It all depends on the situation.

Posted by Bomb-a-rama 2005-04-25 9:00:04 PM|| 2005-04-25 9:00:04 PM|| Front Page Top

#10 TW:
Only if you want just a couple, and are willing to not have the production start. Going into LRIP is the hardest and most time-consuming part of developing a new weapon, at least for RMS. I don't imagine M-D or Boeing to be any different. All these neat tweaks that you can do with prototypes or Engineering Development Models, aren't allowed when you are doing Production Transition Units and getting ready to crank them out like sausages.

For the last product I worked on (can't say what it was), the initial trip through the factory took weeks, with the final step taking 10 days. With the multiple sets we had, that gave us an effective rate of 2/week. It took us two years to get that to a reasonable rate of 3/day.

So, yes, we could build a few of them under transition conditions (PTEs -- at a cost of $70/hr -- actually doing assembly and check-out/calibration) if we had some immediate need ~~like Iran~~, but that would effectively delay mass production day-for-day.

Posted by Jackal 2005-04-25 10:11:56 PM|| [http://home.earthlink.net/~sleepyjackal/index.html] 2005-04-25 10:11:56 PM|| Front Page Top

23:55 thibaud (aka lex)
23:50 thibaud (aka lex)
23:36 Frank G
23:27 Old Patriot
23:25 gromgoru
23:20 SR-71
23:17 ed
23:16 Frank G
23:15 badanov
23:07 Atomic Conspiracy
22:59 Old Patriot
22:58 Phil Fraering
22:39 SC88
22:36 Jackal
22:22 Jackal
22:20 Jackal
22:19 Jackal
22:11 Jackal
21:57 Jackal
21:48 jules 2
21:47 Dennis Kucinich
21:39 Super Hose
21:15 Matt
21:10 JKerry