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.
Lt. Gen. Dan Caine, nominee to be chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told the Senate Armed Services Committee that the Defense Department needs to upgrade its electronic warfare capability and its EW training ranges; just as his predecessor said at his own confirmation hearing.