US B-52 Bomber Drops Precision-Guided Bomb From Internal Weapons Bay for the First Time
A B-52 bomber successfully released a JDAM precision-guided bomb from its internal bomb bay for the first time in test.
L1001025
By Franz-Stefan Gady
July 25, 2016
The U.S. Air Force (USAF) successfully tested a new internal rotary bomb launcher installed in the internal weapons bay of a B-52H long-range heavy bomber, according to a July 19 USAF press release. The B-52 aircraft dropped a Joint Direct Attack Munitions (JDAM) precision-guided bomb from its internal weapons bay for the first time. JDAM is a guidance kit that converts unguided bombs into precision-guided munition.
“According to a release from Edwards Air Force Base, California, the B-52 Joint Direct Attack Munition Internal Weapons Bay Upgrade program recently completed developmental test at Edwards where it successfully demonstrated employment of JDAM munitions from the new Conventional Rotary Launcher,” the USAF reports.
“Crews flying from Edwards are testing the new internal rotary launcher to carry MIL-STD-1760 [a standardized electrical interface designed to reliably release the payload of an aircraft] weapons, which previously had to be carried on external pylons because the Common Strategic Rotary Launcher in use in the B-52 could only carry gravity-release nuclear weapons, nuclear Air-Launched Cruise Missile, and the Conventional Air-Launched Cruise Missile.”
http://thediplomat.com/2016/07/us-b-52-bomber-drops-precision-guided-bomb-from-internal-weapons-bay-for-the-first-time/
