USAF forces at RAF Lakenheath in Britain will be one of the first bases to receive USAF’s newest and smallest precision guided weapon, the GBU-39 Small Diameter Bomb. Officials expect to deploy it on the 48th Fighter Wing’s F-15Es beginning in October 2006. The bomb is also slated for use on the F/A-22 and the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.
A top Pentagon tech official called on industry this week to help the military develop “lighter, more efficient” directed energy weapons designed to go on aircraft and conduct special operations missions or down drones—areas where the Air Force’s directed energy efforts have been quiet as of late.