SDB Goes Operational: 
Munitions maintenance airmen of the 48th Fighter Wing, RAF Lakenheath, England, have been getting schooled on the Air Force’s newest munition—the Small Diameter Bomb, or GBU-39. The wing will be deploying F-15E fighters equipped with the SDB for the munition’s first operational debut—in Southwest Asia—this fall. TSgt. Corey Hammond, production supervisor for the 48th Munitions Squadron, says the SDB is “a great weapon” for ground crew, noting that they like “the ease of it.” He explained, “It requires less manpower. It requires less maintenance. When you are on the fighting front that’s important.”
Raytheon, a division of defense giant RTX, recently announced a multiyear deal with the Pentagon to increase annual production of the Air Force’s primary dogfighting missile by more than 50 percent from two years ago.
