The Boeing-Lockheed Martin team vying for the Small Diameter Bomb Increment II program successfully completed its first flight test of its SDB II last month, according to a June 6 Boeing release. An F-15E Strike Eagle flying out of Eglin AFB, Fla., launched the team’s SDB II, which then opened its control fins and wings and followed its planned mission. Boeing and Lockheed hope to win the sole source system design and development phase of the program in late 2009 over SDB II rival Raytheon.
A combined Navy and Air Force program is seeking to build a smaller version of a ubiquitous air-to-air missile that could give advanced aircraft, such as the Collaborative Combat Aircraft, greater magazine depth in a high-end fight.