Your Survival Guy

Preparing your investments and family for when disaster strikes.

Disclosure

  • Home
  • Your Survival
    • Special Report: FOOD SHORTAGE: Crazed Hoarding Is Not Preparing
    • Your Survival Guy’s Super States
    • Constitutional Carry
    • EMP Threat
    • Tucker Explains
    • Newport Gas Outage
    • Water
      • Emergency Water Storage
      • Let There Be Water
    • Get Your Gun and Your Training Now
    • Satellite Phones
    • Navy SEAL Survival Kit
  • Your Money
    • Coronavirus Infects Stock Market
    • Looking for a Better America
    • You Invest, They Win
    • Where to Keep Your Cash
    • Paris
    • How to Buy a Boat
    • Dead or Alive? The Future of Long-Term Investing
    • Is Vanguard too Big?
    • Cryptocosm and Life After Google
    • The Last Intelligence Report
    • The Truth Behind the S&P 500
    • RAGE Gauge
    • How Many “Retirees” Will Keep Working?
    • Your Retirement Life
    • You’ll Love This if You’re Dreaming of an Active Retirement Life
  • Weapons
    • Self Defense
    • Every Family Should Own at Least One Shotgun: Here Are Three
  • About Me
    • Your Survival Guy: “Life on Main Street Hasn’t Been This Hard in a While”
    • Preparing for Times Like These
    • My Videos/Pics
    • Music
      • RIP Neil Peart: You Will Always Be Remembered as a “Modern-Day Warrior”
    • Your Survival Guy: Make Your Bed and The Hero Code
  • You
    • Our Cabin on Kodiak, Alaska
    • If You Are in Pain, this May Help. It Helped Me.
    • How to Save for a Grandchild
    • FIRE! Financial Independence, Retire Early
    • Compound Interest
    • Arithmetic of Portfolio Losses
    • Maximum Portfolio Withdrawal Rate
    • An Efficient Frontier
    • Retirement Compounders
    • Counterbalanced Total Returns
  • Survive & Thrive
    • January 2023: Stacking Wood and Compounding Money
    • December 2022: Your Survival Guy Prefers Bombardier’s Global Express 7500
    • November 2022: Arriving in Style at Le Bristol Hotel, Paris
    • October 2022: Sink Your Teeth into These Bond Yields
    • September 2022: Do You Have the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People?
    • August 2022: “Watch This Boat off Our Stern,” My Dad Said “He’s Coming in HOT”
    • July 2022: MONEY TALKS: Your Survival Guy’s Best Service in Paris
    • June 2022: “I’ve Been with Richard Young for Over 30 Years Now”
    • May 2022: Survive “If You Fail to Plan, You Plan to Fail”
    • April 2022: Dream On! Fishing the Double Down in Key West
    • March 2022: Your Survival Guy Hears the Craziest Investing Stories
    • February 2022: Your Survival Guy’s 2022 Super States
    • January 2022: The Least Affordable Housing Market in the U.S.
    • December 2021: Listen Your Survival Guy is not “Mr. Peanut”
    • November 2021: Joe Biden is Weaponizing Your 401(k) Against You
    • October 2021: Time to Get Your Lazy Cash Off the Couch
    • September 2021: What’s Your Survival Guy Investing in Right Now?
    • August 2021: To Where Will You Flee?
    • July 2021: This Bubble’s Popped Baby
    • June 2021: Your Survival Guy’s Summer Job, Inflation & You
    • May 2021: You’re Telling Me Friends Ask You This Question
    • April 2021: Is There One Best Place in America for ‘Liberty Retirees?’
    • March 2021: America’s Growth Corridors
    • February 2021: Troops in D.C. & Your Authoritarian Virtual Panopticon
    • January 2021: Are You Ready for The Great Reset?
    • December 2020: Disaster Prep in Our Newport Bunker and Your Survival
    • November 2020: Election 2020 Edition: Stock Market is Predicting a Trump Win
    • October 2020: You Invest They Win, AGAIN
    • September 2020: Proud to be an American: Pro-Trump Parade Turns Rhode Island Red
    • August 2020: The Clock is Ticking: You Must Protect Your Family
    • July 2020: What Will Her Life Be Like Now?
    • June 2020: Your Survival Guy’s Home (and Money) Protection Plan
    • May 2020: Future Look at Covid-20, or the Next Deadly Virus
    • April 2020: Only Trump Saw the Risk in America’s Relationship with China
    • March 2020: Coronavirus Infects Stock Market
    • February 2020: Escape the City: Live Small, Cheap, and Safe in America
    • January 2020: Is Your Cash Safe? Probably not This Safe
    • December 2019
    • November 2019
    • October 2019
    • September 2019
    • August 2019
    • July 2019
    • June 2019
    • May 2019
    • April 2019
    • March 2019
    • February 2019
    • January 2019
    • December 2018
    • November 2018
    • October 2018
    • September 2018
    • August 2018
    • July 2018
    • June 2018
    • May 2018
    • April 2018
    • March 2018
    • February 2018
    • Welcome

New Smart Weapon Has Enemy Tanks in Its Sites

December 3, 2021 By Steve Schneider

The GBU-53/B Small Diameter Bomb II program reached a major milestone Sept. 23 when the weapon was approved for F-15E Strike Eagle operational flights. The approval, from Air Combat Command, makes it possible for the Air Force’s Strike Eagle squadrons to fly with the air-launched precision-guided munition. (Courtesy photo/Raytheon Missiles and Defense)

StormBreaker, the all-weather smart weapon, with 90 percent success rate, conducted its first ever drop from a Marine Corps. F-35B Lightning II on November 29th, 2021. StormBreaker weighs just over 200 pounds, has a 45-mile range, and is equipped with a tri-mode seeker (millimeter wave radar, infrared, and semi- active laser) to allow it to see through fog, smoke, and rain. Its interchangeable warheads include shape charge jets, fragmentation and blast charge effects, and an option for a delayed smart fuse, are powerful enough to defeat tanks. Integration activities for the F-35 and the F/A 18 Super Hornet are under way. The F-15E is the only aircraft officially approved for operational use of the StormBreaker, and can carry up to 20 of them. Raytheon writes in a press release (abridged):

It’s small but mighty.

The StormBreaker smart weapon weighs just over 200 pounds, and up to 20 can fit on fighter jets like the F-15E Strike Eagle. But their warheads, equipped with shape charge jets, fragmentation and blast charge effects, and an option for a delayed smart fuze, are powerful enough to defeat tanks.

“It packs a big punch,” said Alison Howlett, program director for StormBreaker smart weapon at Raytheon Missiles & Defense, a Raytheon Technologies business.

The smart weapon’s precision, power and versatility enable it to address a wide range of threats and scenarios.

“The multi-effects warhead really separates this air-to-surface weapon from its predecessor and other munitions in its class,” Howlett said.

Deployed on the F-15E, the StormBreaker smart weapon has a tri-mode seeker – that uses imaging infrared and millimeter wave radar – to see through fog, smoke and rain as it glides over 45 miles to strike both fixed or moving targets on land or at sea. The system can also use its semi-active laser or GPS guidance to hit targets. It’s engineered with the flexibility to engage a variety of threats in any environment.

“There’s more possible for StormBreaker – options like adding propulsion or swapping out the seeker depending on the mission. The hardware and software can cover a range of threats,” Howlett said. “It’s a very flexible weapon – one-of-kind with world class technology.”

Another key benefit of the StormBreaker system is its networking capabilities. This means one platform could launch it but hand off controls to another. That will be an important capability as the U.S. military aims to connect sensors, platforms and weapon systems across the traditional domains of land, air, sea and space.

“It’s inherent with this weapon and absolutely critical going into a more connected – JADC2 (Joint All Domain Command and Control) – battlespace environment,” Howlett said.

Digitally engineered

Raytheon Missiles & Defense used digital technologies – both tools and processes – to develop StormBreaker.

“It’s certainly an advanced weapon in terms of its design and development and how we’re architecting it for the future. It’s extremely capable now and we’re just getting started,” Howlett said.

To verify system performance, the team uses an integrated flight simulation, or IFS, and literally runs thousands of iterations in tandem with the Air Force using data from testing to continuously improve simulation accuracy.

“It allows us to find and address potential issues before real-life testing, which drives down schedule and cost,” Howlett said.

The business is also using agile methods to deliver rapid capability updates through software changes.

“Each aircraft has unique software, so we need to ensure we’re integrating appropriately with that software,” Howlett said.

Arming 4th- and 5th-gen fighters

In 2020, the Air Force cleared the system for use on the F-15E, making it the first aircraft to carry the weapon. After achieving this milestone, the Air Force and Raytheon Missiles & Defense dropped 14 StormBreaker smart weapons in the 2021 Weapons System Evaluation Program. The successful evaluation and tactics development paves the way for its use by combat air forces.

The F-15E can carry five groups of four StormBreaker smart weapons, for a total of 20 munitions. Depending on the mission, the F-15EX Strike Eagle II can carry more than 16 StormBreaker weapons.

The F/A-18E/F Super Hornet will be the second fighter jet to add the weapon when it reaches initial operating capability.

Raytheon Missiles & Defense is integrating the StormBreaker weapon on the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. The first-ever StormBreaker munition drop test from an F-35 was conducted in late 2021 to test the communication link between the weapon and a secondary aircraft.

The following two tabs change content below.
  • Bio
  • Latest Posts

Steve Schneider

Steve Schneider is a weapons specialist for Yoursurvivalguy.com. He is our website and graphic design specialist for Youngsworldmoneyforcast.com, Richardcyoung.com, Younginvestments.com, and Youngresearch.com. Steve customizes and creates all of the images on our websites.

Latest posts by Steve Schneider (see all)

  • Future Navy Destroyers Will Have Lasers and Hypersonic Weapons - January 20, 2023
  • EYE ON CHINA: U.S. Installs Advanced Radar in the Republic of Palau - January 12, 2023
  • A Fraction of U.S. Defense Budget Hammering Russian Military - January 6, 2023
  • Hellfire Missiles Replacement Gets a Boost in Range - December 30, 2022
  • New Mission for the A-10 Warthog - December 23, 2022

If you enjoyed this post, email it to a friend:

  • Email
  • Print
  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter
  • WhatsApp

Related Posts

Money 101

Trending

  • 4 Life Changing Words for Your Survival Guy: “You Should Try This”
  • Invest with Peace of Mind and Comfort
  • LOSING POWER: Your Survival Guy's Nightmare Scenario
  • Welcome to Hotel California, Where You Can Never Leave
  • The Importance of a Balanced Portfolio
  • Your Survival Guy's 2022 Super States
  • Stocks Go Up and Down: Get Paid Along the Way
  • The World Economic Forum's Record of Destruction
  • America's Super States and Stocks that Respect YOU
  • Don't Let Your Lazy Cash Eat all Your Food

Must Reads

  • GAME ON! Lessons from Street Hockey on Baker Lane
  • Why Mutual Funds and ETFs No Longer Work
  • The Masters of the Universe Align Themselves with CHINA Using YOUR Money?
  • Here’s Why You Need a 15-Year Retirement Investment Plan
  • CRIME WAVE: A Top Cop Shouldn’t Have to Ask His City for This
  • GET PAID: How To Invest in Biden’s Inflationary Market
  • “Talk to Me, Goose!” Time Flies in Top Gun: Maverick
  • Investment Advice: Sticking with the Four-Year-Olds
  • Your Survival Guy’s 2022 Super States: #1 New Hampshire
  • PREPPING: You Don’t Have to Save the World in a Weekend
Only if You’re Serious
Crazed Hoarding Is not Preparing
How to Save Rainwater Effectively
Your Survival Guy in Paris
Your Survival Guy's Fishing Stories
Financial Independence, Retire Early
Money 101
Pandemic Creates Virtual Panopticon
Emergency Water Storage
Find Freedom in America
Second Amendment
How Can You Save Money for Your Grandchild
Great Reset
See Who's Missing the Boat
Richard  Young Reports
How You Can Save Money for Your Grandchild
Why Fidelity is Number One
The Best States for Survival
You Invest, They Win
Escape the City
Why Vanguard is Too Big for YOU
Island Life

Copyright © 2023 | Terms & Conditions

loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.