Raytheon has completed captive carry flight tests of its proposed solution for the US Air Force’s GBU-53/B small-diameter bomb II competition.
The tests demonstrated that the weapon’s form-factored tri-mode seeker and guidance receiver navigator are ready to enter the engineering and manufacturing development phase.
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Engineers tested the weapon’s integration and guidance receiver navigator on a US Air Force F-15E as well as on a US Army UH-1 helicopter, which enabled the team to conduct more seeker data passes at a much lower cost on all required targets than would have been possible with a fast-moving jet aircraft.
Helicopter testing also allowed engineers to evaluate the GBU-53/B’s terminal approach to targets, a task not practical on fighter aircraft test platforms.
