SDB Enters US Air Force Operational Testing

Released on Thursday, November 10, 2005

Two months after development flight testing ended, the U.S. Air Force recently began operational testing of the Boeing Small Diameter Bomb (SDB) with a series of tests at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida. The operational tests are flown in scenarios that are as realistic as possible by crews with combat experience.

Boeing completed SDB development flight testing on schedule and on cost September 25. During the highly successful development program, 35 SDBs were successfully tested against a variety of fixed targets, each hitting within an average of four feet from its surveyed target aim point. Operational testing is expected to last approximately eight months.

SDB entered low-rate initial production last April and on October 31 received a Lot 2 contract from the Air Force for $38.3 million to produce 567 additional SDBs and 140 carriages.

The all-weather SDB weapon system includes a carriage with four bombs and is compatible with every U.S. fighter and bomber aircraft. It has a standoff range of 60 nautical miles. At 71 inches long, this 250-pound class weapon quadruples the number of weapons each aircraft can carry. The system will first be deployed on the Boeing F-15E Strike Eagle in 2006.