The Defence Project to enhance Air Force’s ‘smart bombs’ achieved a significant milestone with the acceptance of the first production set of Australian designed and manufactured range-extending wing kits.

Known as the Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM), and manufactured by Boeing Defense, Space and Security, smart bombs provide an all-weather precision strike capability for Air Force.

Speaking at the delivery of the first production set of range-extending wing kits, the Defence Materiel Organisation’s Head of Helicopter Systems and Guided Weapons Division Rear Admiral Tony Dalton said one aspect of the JDAM enhancement program had been to test, certify and manufacture a range extending wing kit for the smart bomb.

“This successful project has taken an Australian idea and through an international collaboration, has turned it into a reality,” RADM Dalton said.

“These range extending wing kits almost triple the baseline range of the current smart bombs.

“These wing kits were developed by the Defence Science and Technology Organisation and are being manufactured by Ferra Engineering under contract to Boeing,” he said.

Test and evaluation flight trials of the new extended range smart bomb were successfully conducted at Woomera in December last year, with the weapons landing within metres of their designated targets.

The first set of production wing kits was delivered by Boeing today at Ferra’s Brisbane-based production facility.

defence.gov.au