SDB II finds, hits moving target

Raytheon's GBU-53/B Small Diameter Bomb II (SDB II) successfully engaged and hit a moving target during a flight test at the White Sands Missile Range, N.M. Currently in engineering and manufacturing development, SDB II is designed to engage moving targets in adverse weather and through battlefield obscurants. During a test Tuesday, the crew of an F-15E Strike Eagle operating from Holloman Air Force Base, N.M., released an SDB II, which then tracked and guided itself to a moving vehicle, scoring a direct hit. The Air Force runs the program from Eglin Air Force Base, Fla. "The excitement level here (at Raytheon) is only matched by the excitement level at Eglin," said John O'Brien, Raytheon's SDB II program director. (Sources: Raytheon via PRNewswire, 07/19/12, Arizona Daily Star, Military and Aerospace Electronics, 07/20/12)