Boeing officials said Wednesday morning that the Air Force just yesterday declared the Small Diameter Bomb operationally ready, giving the green light for full rate production. Boeing’s vice president for weapons, Virginia Barnes, told reporters at AFA’s Air & Space Conference in Washington that Boeing also had received confirmation from USAF on full funding for SDB for 2007. She said the company is a month ahead on the delivery schedule established by USAF in 2001. On Tuesday, Boeing confirmed that airmen deployed in Southwest Asia from the 48th Fighter Wing at RAF Lakenheath, Britain, are flying F-15Es armed with SDBs.
House, Senate Unveil Competing Proposals for 2026 Budget
July 11, 2025
Lawmakers from the House and Senate laid out competing versions of the annual defense policy bill on July 11, with vastly different potential outcomes for some of the Air Force’s most embattled programs.