New Smart Weapons Are High On Air Force Chief's Agenda.

Decisions on future procurements of precision-guided weapons are among the items on the agenda of Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. John Jumper.

Specifically, Jumper will be expected to firm up an acquisition strategy for long-range cruise missiles. Even before he became the Air Force's chief last month, Jumper had been overseeing a so-called "cruise-missile roadmap" in his previous job as head of the Air Combat Command.

The new chief also will be watching closely the progress of the Air Force Small Diameter Bomb (SDB) program, which has been dubbed a "critical capability" for future air combat. The Air Force wants a smaller weapon--from 100 to 250 pounds--that would make it possible for existing aircraft to drop more bombs per sortie.

Earlier this year, the Air Force backed away from a program called the Extended Range Cruise Missile. Under ERCM, the service had planned to purchase several hundred new weapons, to boost its inventory of precision-guided cruise missiles. The Air Force asked Congress for permission to reallocate to other accounts the $40 million that had been approved for ERCM in fiscal year 2001.

Cruise-missile inventories had gone down dramatically after Operation Desert Fox against Iraq in 1998 and Operation Allied Force against Yugoslavia in 1999. In those two conflicts, the Air Force fired several dozen CALCMs (conventional air-launched cruise missile). The inventory was down to less than 100 in 1999.

The CALCM, launched from a B-52 bomber, is built by replacing the ALCM's nuclear warhead with conventional munitions. The Boeing Co. began modifying the missile inventory in 1986. The conventionally armed missile was designated AGM-86C.

The CALCM program only was intended to fill the gap until the new ERCM was available. However, an ongoing nuclear-posture review by the Bush administration could result in the availability of more nuclear-tipped ALCMs, providing the Air Force an alternative to buying new missiles. Cruise missiles with the standoff, precision-guidance capabilities that the Air Force wants cost about $1 million each.

Boeing had planned to participate in the ERCM competition with a new-production variant of CALCM.

The Air Combat Commands cruise-missile acquisition plan--aimed to replace the ERCM program--is considering two options: a new CALCM proposed by Boeing and an upgraded version of the Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile (JASSM), made by Lockheed Martin Corp. That version is known as JASSM-ER, for extended range.

A recommendation from the Air Combat Command on a missile acquisition plan could come by the end of the year. An ACC spokesman was unable to provide a specific date.

Air Force Col. Tim Moore, deputy program manager for JASSM, said that Lockheed Martin already has submitted proposals on development options for a JASSM-ER. The service plans to buy at least 3,000 JASSMs. The program technically is joint, even though the Navy has not committed to any purchases and only has supported research and testing of the missile.

According to Moore, the Air Force is completing an "analysis of alternatives" on JASSM-ER and CALCM. But final decisions have been on hold, until Jumper has had an opportunity to assess the options. "JASSM-ER is one of the options the Air Force is looking at. No determination has been made yet. ... The final roadmap has to land at the desk of the chief of staff."

The makers of JASSM said that upgrading the missile to an extended-range version would make sense financially. "We have a hot supplier base. A hot production line," said Gregory A. Howard, director of business development at Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control. "We have been asked to provide information to the Air Force on technical options, things that we could do to JASSM to extend its range," Howard said in an interview.

To build a JASSM-ER, he explained, "We would make, not minor, but not significant modifications inside the current outer mold line. That would give us greater range without growing the weapon.

There are many ways to increase the range, if the Air Force wanted to increase the size and length of the missile, Howard said. "But if you want to keep it compatible with all fighters and bombers, you want to stay with the current outer mold line." JASSM weighs 2,250 pounds and is 14-feet long. It can be launched from both bombers and fighters.

If JASSM's next flight test is successful this fall, the Pentagon's Defense Acquisition Board will decide whether the program can begin low-rate production. The Air Force requested $123 million in fiscal year 2002 for the procurement of 76 missiles. But problems experienced in a July flight test have slowed down the original DAB schedule. During that test, the warhead did not detonate, because the fuze malfunctioned, said Moore.

"It took two weeks to find the warhead. We took out the fuze, and we are looking at it," he said. Lockheed Martin has proposed a fix to the problem. But Howard said he could not discuss what the company has proposed until the Air Force agreed with the company's recommendations.

Moore said that a JASSM-ER would have a range greater than 700 miles. "In my opinion, JASSM-ER is an exceptionally low-cost solution."

To be competitive with Boeing's CALCM, the JASSM-ER would have to cost about $700,000.

"We have proposed new production of a CALCM-ER," said Boeing spokesman Robert Algarotti. "We've been told that there are no more ALCMs to convert. If that changes, depending on a nuclear posture review, the Air Force may decide to convert more to CALCMs."

Between 1994 and 1999, the Air Force converted 445 ALCMs to CALCM Block 0 and Block 1. The service purchased 132 of the newest model, Block 1A, which has a more precise GPS guidance system than previous versions, as well as GPS anti-jam protection. Boeing produces them at the rate of 24 per month.

A Block 2 version, called AGM-86D, has a bunker-buster warhead. It weighs 3,200 pounds and is 21 feet long. Fifty of these will be delivered during the next year, said Algarotti.

Industry Competition

Boeing and Lockheed also are competing in the Small Diameter Bomb program, along with a third contractor, the Raytheon Co.

The three firms are vying for a contract award scheduled for this month, which will select two companies to pursue the development of an SDB.

The key to the success of SDB is the guidance, said Terry Little, the Air Force program manager who oversees the SDB project. "Most targets of interest do not require a large warhead, provided you have good guidance," he told an industry conference. The SDB should be able to fly 50-60 miles from a high-altitude launch and rely on inertial and satellite guidance and wings to reach the target. Later in the program, he said, the two competitors will develop a new seeker, which is more expensive but more precise technology than inertial guidance. This technology is needed for the SDB to be able to chase mobile targets.

The Air Force plans to buy at least 12,000 bombs and 2,000 bomb racks. "Our current bomb racks are not adaptable" for the smaller weapon, said Little.

Air Force spokesman Jake Swinson said each of the two contractors will receive $47 million for a two-year "risk-reduction effort." At the end of two years, the Air Force will downselect to just one contractor. The plan is to have SDBs on F-15E and F-22 fighters by fiscal year 2006. "That is fast compared to previous weapon programs, which took 12 years," said Swinson.

"Eventually, they will be on all of our combat aircraft. The Navy and the Marine Corps also plan to participate in this program," he said.

Given the stakes in this competition, none of the contractors would divulge details about their SDB proposals. The Air Force did not specify the size or the design. "We have a requirement for a small munition that can fit in the internal base of the F-22," said Swinson. "It has to have wings, so it can glide. We are leaving it up to the contractors to come up with the design. We don't know if it will be four 250-pound bombs per bomb rack or eight 100-pound bombs. They have a lot of flexibility for trade-offs."

The first phase of the program will concentrate on fixed targets. In the follow-on phase, the bomb will have an advanced seeker, so it will go after re-locatable and moving targets, he said. "That will be more technologically challenging and will take longer." The SDB must have a unitary warhead, capable of penetrating at least a couple of feet of concrete.

The Air Force said it wants the SDB to cost less than $50,000 each.

Precision-Guided Bombs Labeled 'Transformational'

Sandra I. Erwin

Every blue-ribbon study and high-level commission report that has come out of the Pentagon in recent years concluded that the U.S. military services should boost their investments in precision-guided munitions. These studies have articulated repeatedly that the United States needs to invest in the development of weapons that are pinpoint-accurate, so U.S. warplanes can hit targets in civilian-populated areas.

The 2001 Quadrennial Defense Review, scheduled for completion on September 30, should be no exception. One of the panels that contributed to the QDR, for example, endorsed "precision strike" as one of those military capabilities that have "transformational value." The panel, chaired by retired Air Force Gen. James P. McCarthy, cited a number of so-called "A list" programs:

* To produce a small-diameter smart bomb.

* To upgrade the Air Force fleet of air-launched cruise missiles.

* To develop a stealthy joint long-range cruise missile.

Dozens of smart-munitions programs are in development or production today by the Army, Navy and Air Force. Since the 1999 air war over Kosovo, particularly, the Air Force has received a steady influx of funds to replenish depleted inventories of precision-guided munitions, including laser-guided bombs and satellite-guided weapons.

Even if the fiscal 2002 is approved, the Air Force PGM accounts still remain about $2 billion short of what the service would like to have in its inventories, said Maj. Gen. Larry W. Northington, Air Force deputy assistant secretary. That number could change, depending on expected changes by the Bush administration to the national military strategy. The $2 billion shortfall is based on the two regional-conflict strategy, adopted in 1993. It calls for the Defense Department to have enough force structure to fight two regional conflicts nearly simultaneously. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld said the new strategy would require the services to be ready to fight one major war and multiple small-scale contingencies.

Nevertheless, the Air Force remains cash-strapped in its PGM accounts, because there are more pressing budgetary demands, such as recruiting and retention of service members, Northington told National Defense. In fiscal 2002, the Air Force will spend $1.1 billion on munitions--almost exactly the same amount that was allocated to recruiting and retention initiatives ($564 million and $487 million, respectively). Never before has the Air Force allotted such a large chunk of its budget to recruiting and retention.

The Air Force would like to spend more on munitions, said Northington, but people are more important. The service currently is 1,200 pilots short and is struggling to keep non-commissioned officers in critical jobs, such as mechanics, air-traffic controllers, communications specialists, linguists and cryptologists.

Another drain on munitions spending is the rising cost of operating aircraft, he said. The Air Force wants to fund, each year, about 2.1 million flying hours. The cost of those flying hours has skyrocketed 55 percent during the past five years. The same 2.1 million flying hours that last year required $4.8 billion are costing $6.2 billion in 2002.

Of the $1.1 billion the Air Force budgeted for munitions in 2002, about $400 million will be used for training. That is up from $100 million in 2001.

About 60 percent of the munitions budget is spent on precision-guided weapons. That 60-40 breakdown is expected to continue in the foreseeable future. "That is our investment strategy," said Northington.

The service's new chief of staff, Gen. John Jumper, is expected to address the munitions shortage, he told the Senate Armed Services Committee during his confirmation hearing this summer. He acknowledged that there are shortfalls in war reserve and training ammunition inventories.