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RAF To Get Worlds Most Advanced Bomb
(Source: UK Ministry of Defence; issued June 12, 2003)
Britains fighter bomber pilots will be getting the worlds most advanced precision bomb, under a planned contract announced by the Defence Procurement Minister Lord Bach today.
Under the £120 Million contract, the RAFs and Royal Navys bomber fleets will be equipped with the highly advanced fire and forget Paveway IV bombs - fitted with the latest Global Positioning System guidance technology for greatly enhanced accuracy in all weather conditions. The overall programme, including integration on the aircraft, will cost over £300 million.
The new Precision Guided Bomb (PGB) weapon system will be manufactured in the UK by Raytheon Systems Limited, subject to successful completion of final contract negotiations. It will give the UK an enhanced ability to conduct 24-hour precision attacks against a wide range of targets and incorporates a sophisticated fail-safe fuze mechanism, engineered to minimise the risk of collateral damage.
Defence Minister Lord Bach said:
Recent conflicts in the Gulf and the Balkans have underlined the vital need for our armed forces to have a precision air attack capability that can be used day or night, whatever the weather. The Precision Guided Bomb utilises the latest technology to deliver that enhanced capability, allowing our front line forces to hit their targets hard while minimising the risk of collateral damage.
PGB will be more accurate than current bomb systems, less susceptible to jamming and unaffected by poor weather conditions or man-made smoke screens. In view of its inherently high levels of accuracy the Paveway IV will be just half the size of the RAFs current 1000lb bomb - the smaller payload reducing the risk of collateral damage and potentially increasing aircraft range by allowing more fuel.
The PGB will contain one of the worlds most advanced fuze systems designed to reduce the chance of collateral damage. Known as late arm, the guidance system will send a message to the fuze two seconds before target impact confirming that it is on course, serviceable and not being jammed. If any of these conditions are not met the fuze will not arm and the warhead will not explode, even after impact from high level.
Production of the system will take place largely in the UK, securing up to 200 jobs in southern England and Scotland.
BACKGROUND NOTES:
1. The Precision Guided Bomb will enter service in 2007, replacing existing dumb and laser guided bombs. The much larger, 2000lb, Paveway III series will remain in service because of their special abilities in defeating hardened and deeply buried targets.
2. The PGB will weigh 500lb (half the weight of most existing bombs). Unlike laser guided bombs they are able to see through clouds with their integrated Global Positioning Systems - enabling them to hit targets whatever the weather or visibility conditions.
3. Up to 200 jobs will be created or sustained across the UK, including at the Raytheon Systems Ltd plant in Glenrothes, Fife, Portsmouth Aviation Ltd, MBM Technologies in Brighton and at Thales in Basingstoke.
4. The PGB will equip a wide variety of aircraft, including the Tornado GR4, Harrier GR9 and Typhoon.
5. The PGB will have one of the worlds most advanced fuzes fitted with the Late-Arm safety device, which will not arm an off-course munition. It will also be fitted with the warheads designed to meet the latest requirements of NATO Insensitive Munition safety policy.
6. The value of the contract to Raytheon Systems Ltd, subject to successful completion of negotiations, is expected to be around £120M.
Raytheon Wins UK Precision Guided Bomb Competition
(Source: Raytheon Co.; issued June 12, 2003)
TUCSON, Ariz. --- Raytheon Company has been selected by the United Kingdom Ministry of Defence to supply the Paveway IV to meet the Royal Air Forces requirement for a new Precision Guided Bomb (PGB). The anticipated contract value is $175 million.
Raytheons Paveway IV is the latest generation of the highly successful Paveway family of precision guided munitions that Raytheon already supplies to the RAF, U.S. Air Force and Navy and 30 other allied countries.
Paveway IV is a joint program between Raytheon Systems Limited, the UK- based subsidiary of Raytheon Company, and Raytheon Missile Systems, Tucson, Ariz.
This is a significant strategic win for Raytheon Company in a very competitive environment. It extends Raytheons missile portfolio and establishes Raytheon Systems Limited as a significant UK weapons supplier, said Louise Francesconi, president, Raytheon Missile Systems. Raytheon Missile Systems will be providing technical support to this program, including technology from our GPS growth plan.
This is great news for Raytheon and in particular for the Paveway team that has put so much effort into this bid, said Bob McIntyre, RSLs managing director. By building on the Paveway legacy, Paveway IV will provide the RAF with a low risk, precision-guided weapon built in the UK, which also will be available for export from RSL to the global market, including the U.S. This key win enhances the RSL strategy to become, along with Raytheon Missile Systems in the U.S., a major weapons systems provider to the MoD.
For extreme accuracy Paveway IV utilizes second-generation, state-of-the- art GPS-aided inertial navigation that incorporates anti-spoofing and anti- jamming technology. It also offers significant flexibility of operation. The weapon has evolved from Enhanced Paveway, which the RAF has already fielded. For the PGB program, Paveway IV guidance kits will be fitted to 500-lb warheads. Paveway IV can easily be fitted to different sized warheads.
Paveway IV provides a state-of-the-art, all-weather precision munitions that is easy to integrate on current and future aircraft. It will enter service with the RAF in 2006.
During Operation Iraqi Freedom more Paveway weapons were used by allied forces than any other guided munitions, according to a report from Central Air Forces Command. This includes the very successful introduction of the dual- mode (Laser and GPS) Enhanced Paveway as well as the standard laser-guided version of Paveway.
Raytheon Company, with 2002 sales of $16.8 billion, is an industry leader in defense, government and commercial electronics, space, information technology, technical services, and business and special mission aircraft. With headquarters in Lexington, Mass., Raytheon employs more than 76,000 people worldwide.
