The U.S. Air Force has awarded Boeing a $75 million Undefinitized Contract Action (UCA) to acquire the BSU-111/B Payload Delivery Unit (PDU) Joint Direct Attack Munition Long Range (JDAM LR), a precision-guided munition that can travel more than 300 nautical miles with a 500-pound class (226-kilogram) payload.
The UCA follows Boeing’s nearly $100 million internal investment in the program and clears it for initial production of PDUs for the U.S. Navy.
JDAM LR combines the JDAM guidance tail kit and aircraft interface with a wing kit and compact turbojet engine to provide long-range capability for precision conventional land strike, naval strike and maritime aerial-mining missions.
By leveraging existing JDAM infrastructure, it enables high-volume production and rapid integration with any aircraft capable of carrying conventional JDAM.
Bob Ciesla, vice president of Boeing Precision Engagement Systems, said, "Scaling production of the GBU-75 will provide the fleet with an affordable, sustainable solution designed to eliminate long-range land and sea-based threats to U.S. and international forces and enable them to safely and effectively operate in a contested battlespace.'
The system recently completed its first flight test off the coast of California, meeting the objectives of sustaining powered flight on a predefined test profile and using military-code GPS navigation while maintaining consistent guidance directly to its target.
“JDAM LR gives operators an affordable, mass-producible option for striking targets from beyond the effective range of enemy defenses,” said Ciesla.
