The Air Fo
rce has given Boeing the go-ahead to begin testing the Small Diameter Bomb with the F-16 Block 30 and Block 40/50 and the F-22A and to enter full-rate production for SDB I. This fall, the Air Force declared the small bomb to be operationally capable, sending SDB-equipped F-15E fighters from RAF Lakenheath, England to Southwest Asia. And, ACC has a second SDB-equipped F-15E unit in the making at Mountain Home AFB, Idaho. Boeing has received a contract worth nearly $13 million to integrate the small bomb on the remaining threshold aircraft and follow-on aircraft. The full-rate production contract is worth $80 million. The company expects to produce more than 24,000 SDB I through 2015 and beyond.
When Lt. Col. Dustin Johnson was ordered to deploy to the Middle East last year, he and his fellow F-22 Raptor pilots prepared for an unusual challenge. As America’s premier air superiority fighter, the F-22 was designed to take on advanced enemy aircraft, capable of maneuvering stealthily and cruising at supersonic…