Smart munitions designers at Raytheon Technologies Corp. will provide the U.S. Air Force with more than 1,000 radar- and infrared-guided air-to-ground missiles under terms of a $212.7 million order. Officials of the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., are asking the Raytheon Missiles & Defense segment in Tucson, Ariz., to provide product lot seven of the GBU-53/B StormBreaker - also known as the Small Diameter Bomb (SDB) II. Like the GPS-guided GBU-39 SDB I already integrated on the F-35 joint strike fighter, the 208-pound StormBreaker is six to seven inches in diameter. This size can fit eight StormBreaker munitions in the F-35's confined internal weapon bays. If stealth is not a factor, about 16 more can fit on the F-35's wings. The StormBreaker air-to-ground smart weapon with mul-timode seeker can hit moving targets in bad weather. The winged munition autonomously detects and classifies moving targets in darkness, rain, fog, smoke or dust.
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