Raytheon Missiles & Defense has conducted the first guided release of the StormBreaker smart glide weapon from a Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet, the Tucson-based weapons developer announced on June 15. The trial was conducted over the Atlantic Test Range by an aircraft flying from Patuxent River in Maryland. Designated GBU-53/B and formerly known as the Small Diameter Bomb (SDB) II, the StormBreaker (renamed to avoid confusion with the Boeing GBU-39/B SDB) employs a tri-mode seeker along with GPS/inertial guidance.
The seeker marries an imaging infrared sensor for enhanced target discrimination, a semi-active laser system to hit points designated by either the launch platform or an offboard laser, and a millimeter-wave radar that can detect and track targets through weather and in any light conditions. The guidance section draws and fuses information from all three sensors, to provide accurate attack capability against both fixed and moving targets. A GPS/inertial system is used for guidance during the fly-out to the target vicinity.
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