Boeing will offer a “derivative” of its original Small Diameter Bomb, company program manager Dan Jaspering said in a teleconference with reporters Tuesday following selection of teams led by Boeing and Raytheon to compete for the SDB II contract. The body of the new version and the warhead will be engineered by Boeing; the multi-mode seeker, to be developed by Lockheed, will include both millimeter wave radar and imaging infrared technology. Even with the space consumed by the new seeker, SDB II must still come in at 250 pounds—warhead and all. The team must also develop a two-way datalink so the pilot can update the target while the weapon is in flight, but it need not use the Link 16 data system, Jaspering said.
President Donald Trump is interested in developing a twin-engined, upgraded version of the F-35 fighter, he said during a press event May 15 in Qatar marking the sale of Boeing airliners and GE Aerospace engines to Qatar Airways. He said he would name the improved aircraft the “F-55” and also…