The partnership of Boeing and Lockheed Martin will have to fend off several other major defense companies for the contract to build the next crop of Small Diameter Bombs. According to Dow Jones newswire, Raytheon and, perhaps, General Dynamics and Northrop Grumman are keen to enter the nearly $2 billion competition. A Raytheon official said that the addition of a moving target requirement, with its new suite of antennas and communications equipment, and the removal of the need for the SDB to pierce a building makes the phase II version “a potentially completely different weapons system.” The changes make it much more appealing to a wider variety of contractors.
While the Space Force is still making long-term plans to establish high-fidelity live and virtual test and training ranges in the coming years, officials say they're also working with operators to identify near-term gaps and quickly field capabilities to address them.
