A team headed by Boeing and another headed by Raytheon will develop competing concepts for the Small Diameter Bomb, Increment II program. Boeing, whose team includes former competitor Lockheed Martin, will get $145.7 million and Raytheon $143.9 million for the work. USAF expects to select a preferred design in 2009, and to have the winner equip first units in 2014. The SDB II is to be a 250-pound-class weapon that can hunt down moving targets in all weather from standoff range. The SDB II program was to have gotten started several years ago, but became mired in the Darleen Druyun acquisition scandal. That heartburn led the Air Force to issue three draft requests for proposal and conduct “extensive and open discussion with the potential offerors.” That way, said an Air Force spokesman, the service “could ensure there were no ambiguities … and that the competitors would understand the exact requirements.”
The Air Force’s Hypersonic Attack Cruise Missile is behind schedule and may significantly overrun its expected cost, which could partially explain why the service is reviving the hypersonic AGM-183 Air-Launched Rapid-Response Weapon.