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.
The U.K. and the U.S. will continue to enjoy access to the ports, airfield, and workshops at Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean for at least another century, under a deal inked between the U.K. and Mauritius May 22.