Right. On target.

With JDAM, pilots have confidence in missions

BY CHRIS HADDOX

On April 17, 2004, flying a mission over Iraq, U.S. Air Force F-15E Strike Eagle pilot Maj. David Grimwood and his weapons systems officer, Lt. Col. Jim Bessel, dropped a 2,000-pound (907- kilogram) Joint Direct Attack Munition on a suspected hideout for insurgents.

It was Maj. Grimwood's first drop of a JDAM. "We had a strike request from the Army," he said. "It was against a position insurgents had used for several nights to fire mortars at a U.S. Army base. We don't know if insurgents were there at the time the bomb went off, but we do know that for the next week, that army unit never got attacked."

Maj. Grimwood and hundreds of other pilots and weapons systems officers (WSOs) who have dropped tens of thousands of JDAMs have been singing the weapon's praises since 1998 when the first JDAM was produced.

The JDAM is a low-cost guidance kit that converts existing unguided free-fall bombs into accurately guided "smart" weapons. The Boeing-built kit consists of a new tail section that contains an Inertial Navigation System/Global Positioning System.

Maj. Grimwood now teaches the use of air-to-ground weapons at the 507th Combat Training Squadron at Nellis Air Force Base, Nev., and JDAM is a big part of his lesson plans. He said the weapon's accuracy and reliability have changed the way fighter pilots and war planners do business.

"If it's a preplanned target, we can go at it with JDAM with high confidence, drop the thing in whatever weather, and know that it's going to hit the target," he said.

That isn't possible with laser-guided bombs. Without clear weather and good visibility, laser-guided bombs can't be used.

"We have put a tremendous effort into LGB attacks only to get out there and find that the visibility isn't good enough for the laser," said F-15E pilot Maj. Craig Baker. "But if we have a mixed weapons load with JDAM, we can put the effort into the planning and know we can drop it no matter what once we get there."

A laser-guided JDAM is being tested, and once it becomes operational, the JDAM will be the most versatile weapon on top of being the most accurate.

"As the Operational Test Pilot, I was a little nervous because I didn't want to screw it up, but it was very straightforward," Shower said. "I was flying straight and level and when I hit the pickle button—'dunk, dunk'—two JDAMs came off, and hit the target."

Not only is JDAM's ease-of-use a confidence booster, it also lets pilots get the job done in a high-threat environment. Shower said it actually changes a pilot's mindset, especially one flying the F/A-22. "Using the JDAM on the Raptor doesn't impact the capability. You retain the stealth, the speed, everything," he said.

With JDAM's accuracy, the one-bomb concept is what pilots and WSOs get.

Baker should know. He's flown more than 70 sorties over Iraq and has dropped more than 30 JDAMs.

"Take for example a bridge, where you would have had to apply thousands of dumb bombs in order to take it out," Baker explained. "Now you can take out two bridges with just two weapons."

For all the capability it has, Shower said JDAM is exactly what the Air Force needs and what pilots want: "It's a fire-and-forget weapon. I can drop that bomb and I can do everything I need to do to survive."

chris.d.haddox@boeing.com