BOMB TESTING SMALLER PRECISION-GUIDED DEVICE DROPPED.Byline: - Daily News EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE Edwards Air Force Base, U.S. military installation, 301,000 acres (121,805 hectares), S Calif., NE of Lancaster; est. 1933. It is one of the largest air force bases in the United States and has the world's longest runway. - Test crews are trying out a smaller version of a 2,000-pound precision-guided bomb dropped by B-1B bombers in Iraq. Crews tested firepower need by releasing, for the first time, an inert 500-pound GBU-38 Joint Direct Attack Munitions bomb during a flight at the China Lake Naval Warfare naval warfare Military operations conducted on, under, or over the sea and waged against other seagoing vessels or targets on land or in the air. The earliest naval attacks were raids by the armed men of a tribe or town using fishing boats or merchant ships. Center bombing range A bombing range is an area used for testing explosive ordnance and practicing to accurately direct them to the target. Bombing ranges are used for munitions that either explode or produce too much destruction to use at a shooting range, such as kinetic energy penetrators or very . ``The B-1 has been the backbone of bombing missions in (Iraq), dropping over 35 percent of all 2,000-pound JDAMs,'' said Maj. Hans Miller, 419th Flight Test Squadron B-1B test pilot. ``With the increasing concern over collateral damage collateral damage Surgery A popular term for any undesired but unavoidable co-morbidity associated with a therapy–eg, chemotherapy-induced CD to the BM and GI tract as a side effect of destroying tumor cells , the GBU-38 has grown in demand as the weapon of choice for strike forces.'' The China Lake test release was successful despite winds topping 55 mph, and the bomb hit three feet from its target. The impact split the edge of a metal-container target. The B-1B is loaded with software that allows aircrews to use ``smart'' weapons like the Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile, Joint Standoff Weapon and JDAM Noun 1. JDAM - a pinpoint bomb guidance device that can be strapped to a gravity bomb thus converting dumb bombs into smart bombs Joint Direct Attack Munition . The B-1B is the only aircraft that can employ all three types of weapons from the same bomb bay on the same bomb run, said Miller. The bomb testing was worked into a software-testing program, in which testers demonstrate new weapons the bomber can use and verify that the new software doesn't affect the use of other weapons. By combining the weapons testing with the software program, the GBU-38 capability is scheduled to begin operational testing (testing) operational testing - A US DoD term for testing performed by the end-user on software in its normal operating environment. by the beginning of March, Miller said. Operational testers are looking at the best tactics to take advantage of the B-1B's ability to carry several kinds of weapons simultaneously. Prior to the inert GBU-38 release Nov. 17, the B-1B carried a mixed load of JASSMs, JSOWs and Wind Corrected Munition Dispensers in various combinations in its three bays, said Mike Brooks Mike Brooks is a television news correspondent for CNN, currently based in Atlanta, Georgia. He appears regularly on Nancy Grace's show, and gave significant coverage of the Anna Nicole Smith paternity controversy, as well as the Virginia Tech massacre. , 419th FLTS FLTS Flats (street type) FLTS Flight Test Squadron (Air Force Flight Test Center) FLTS Flat Size (US Postal Service) FLTS Flight Line Test Set test conductor and B-1 flight test engineer. ``The bays weren't completely loaded, and the aircraft was captive carrying the weapons, meaning that they weren't released,'' Brooks said. ``What we wanted to do was gather useful data and track how the weapons interacted with the software.'' Testers also performed vibration and acoustic testing in order to ensure vibrations in the bomb bays were within acceptable levels, he said. CAPTION(S): photo Photo: (color) An Edwards Air Force Base B-1B flies in December. The model was used in the November testing of an inert 500-pound GBU-38. U.S. Air Force |
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