Online Sponsor: April 01, 2003
Latest Air Force weapons technology By GAIL KAUFMAN, DEFENSE NEWS MEDIA GROUP ALEXANDRIA, Va. — Capitalizing on lessons learned from Desert Storm in 1991, the U.S. Air Force has developed a whole arsenal of weapons that can be used in all weather conditions and that can be launched from several hundred miles away.
Dr. Steve Butler, director of engineering at the service’s Air Armament Center at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., highlighted how the latest weapons technology has changed the way wars are fought now and in the future.
During Desert Storm, the military relied mainly on laser-guided weapons, which could not always reach their target because of cloud cover or other weather conditions.
After the war, the Air Force decided to develop the Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM). The munitions, which vary in size, can receive target coordinates from global positioning satellites. The JDAM, manufactured by Boeing Co., Chicago, can be used in all weather conditions to hit specific stationary points on the ground.
Speaking during the Defense News Media Group conference — Strike Warfare Precision Attack: Compressing the Flash-to-Bang Cycle — on April 1, Butler said the regular employment of satellite-guided weapons has truly “digitalized the battlefield” by targeting with GPS coordinates.
The technology is so precise, weapons such as the Joint Air to Surface Standoff Missile (JASSM) can strike a target from more than 100 miles away, Butler said.
During his presentation, Butler played a video from the March 26 flight test in which the JASSM, launched from a B-52H Stratofortress, whizzed right through an open window of the target building before exploding.
“This is the next generation of cruise missiles we been waiting for,” he said. |
Sponsor: 
Maj. Gen. John L "Jack" Hudson |
