US Navy, A Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) program is delivering warfighters a bomb which can strike urban targets with lower risk of unwanted collateral damage.
The Precision Strike Weapons Program Office (PMA 201) brought the BLU-126/B bomb from concept to deployment in less than 17 months. It fulfills a Fleet need for a weapon that is both combat effective and adheres to U.S. Central Command’s Collateral Damage Rules of Engagement.
The BLU-126/B is externally identical to the 500 lbs. BLU-111, but contains less explosive mass producing a reduced fragmentation pattern and blast radius. The program developed the weapon for use in situations where friendly forces or civilians are close to the target. The BLU-126/B, Low Collateral Damage Bomb (LCDB), can be used with the same guidance kits as the BLU-111, including those for laser guided bomb and joint direct attack munitions.
“This weapon allows us to target and destroy the enemy, and we can do this without causing damage we didn’t want to inflict. It’s exactly what we need in current combat environments where the enemy hides among the civilian population,” said Maj. Jason “Rainman” Maddocks, VX-31’s LCDB Project Test Pilot.
Air-to-ground weapons historically were produced to deliver the maximum amount of explosives. In modern urban warfare, there is often little delineation between friendly, neutral and enemy forces, which requires better blast control. The BLU-126/B allows tactical aircraft to employ a precision strike weapon that limits unintended damage.
“We wanted to ensure the new capability was intuitive for the warfighter to employ. We achieved this by not setting out to create a new weapon, but instead we modified a proven system to fulfill a specific capability gap. The result is a weapon which is familiar to the operator and maintainer, but which provides a unique warfighting capability,” said PMA-201 Program Manager, Capt. Mat Winter. By modifying an existing weapon system, the program also reduced costs associated with the design, production and sustainment of the LCDB. The BLU-126/B is produced at the same cost as the BLU-111 and requires no unique support costs.
The PMA-201 team, comprised of engineers, logisticians and testers from both Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Md. and the Naval Air Warfare Center, Weapons Division China Lake, Calif., worked as part of the Naval Aviation Enterprise Air Launched Weapons Team to swiftly bring this “lethal-enough” and cost-effective capability to the Navy and Marine Corps warfighter, said Winter. The Fleet will be able to take delivery of 500 BLU-126/Bs by the end of March. McAlester Army Ammunition Plant will deliver 1,500 units by May.
“Our primary mission is to deliver required capabilities to the Fleet on cost and on schedule. In this case, the program swiftly responded to the need to have an effective weapon that limits damage outside the intended target and which the warfighter will find easy to employ. I consider this a huge success, demonstrating acquisition agility in rapidly fielding an effective combat solution,” said Rear Adm. Timothy Heely, Program Executive Office for Strike Weapons and Unmanned Aviation (PEO(W)).
PEO(W) provides total acquisition life cycle weapon systems management of all strike weapons, unmanned aviation, mission planning, targets and decoy capabilities for the Naval Aviation Enterprise.
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