USAF considers new anti-ship weapon.

Michael Kelly wrote:

:Fred J. McCall wrote:
:
: :Just as likely that there's a little bad blood after the Air Force
: :changed its preference to WCMD-ER over JSOW, same range,
:
: Wrong. Shorter range.
:
:Just going off of what I've seen in the office.

"The WCMD-ER system adds a wing kit to the GPS version of the WCMD
tail kit to obtain a range of 30-40 miles."
-- http://www.f-16.net/f-16_news_article665.html

"The JSOW is a family of affordable, highly lethal weapons
revolutionizing strike warfare. This new generation glide weapon
ensures warfighter survivability by enabling precision air strike
launches from well beyond most enemy air defenses, at kinematic
standoff ranges up to 70 nm (130 km)."
http://www.raytheon.com/products/ste...s01_055754.pdf

Last I checked 70 is bigger than 40.

: :lower cost and
:
: Paper weapons are always cheap.
:
:Except WCMD-ER's are being dropped and integrated at Eglin right now.
:Probably only on paper though. It did get zeroed on my platform to pay
:for other upgrades.

I thought it got zeroed everywhere (although USAF was trying to get
some money put back for it). Did they get it refunded? Last I heard
they'd given up asking for procurement funds for '06 and were trying
to eke out $20-ish million to finish development.

Until it IOCs it's still a paper weapon.

: :much more bang for the buck.
:
: Especially when it's cut back to zero bucks.
:
:A strap on kit is more cost effective than a brand new weapon,
:especially when its a modification of a currently low cost guidance that
:straps on to the back end of a dumb bomb.

It's only more cost effective if you actually get to procure them.
Any time you start slapping things on bombs, that *is* effectively a
brand new weapon. Radical changes in aerodynamic behaviour. That's
why there are development programs for this stuff.

--
"The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable
man persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore,
all progress depends on the unreasonable man."
--George Bernard Shaw