ORAC
15th Feb 2024, 11:36
AW&ST:
https://aviationweek.com/defense-space/missile-defense-weapons/us-air-force-eyes-deeper-targets-penetrator-arsenal-refresh
U.S. Air Force Eyes Deeper Targets With Penetrator Arsenal Refresh
The U.S. Air Force is looking to replace the world’s largest conventional bomb to attack the hardest and most deeply buried enemy targets.
The Next Generation Penetrator (NGP) will replace the 30,000-lb.-class GBU-57, also known as the Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP), as soon as or shortly after the Northrop Grumman B-21 Raider is scheduled to enter service later this decade.
Instead of the 13-15-ton bunker-busting MOP, the Air Force wants a considerably lighter munition weighing no more than 11 tons.
The reduced weight could make the NGP easier to fit inside the B-21, an aircraft noticeably smaller than the double-MOP-carrying Northrop B-2 bomber.
A request for information (RFI) published by the Air Force on Feb. 8 offers few additional details of design requirements, but the service seems interested in leveraging improved accuracy to offset sheer weight and achieve similar effects.
The navigation system should be able to guide 90% of all NGPs to within 2.2 m (7.2 ft.) of the aim point, the RFI says. In addition, the contractor must show that its design can achieve this level of accuracy when satellite-based navigation aids are unavailable……
The winning bidder needs to be able to deliver and demonstrate 3-5 full-scale NGP prototypes within 18-24 months from contract award.….
The Air Force wants to leverage the experience from two decades of developmental projects to speed the NGP into service.
“The prototype penetrator warhead design effort should allow integration of technologies acquired and lessons learned under previous penetrator warhead developments to meet performance requirements,” the RFI states.
Facing similar challenges with deeply buried targets, South Korea’s military, which lacks a nuclear weapons capability, is seeking to arm itself with the world’s most powerful conventional missile.
The Hyunmoo-5 is reportedly the size of an intercontinental ballistic missile, with an 8-ton conventional warhead designed to collapse bunkers buried hundreds of feet underground by combining mass and hypersonic speed to generate a huge shockwave upon detonation.
https://aviationweek.com/defense-space/missile-defense-weapons/us-air-force-eyes-deeper-targets-penetrator-arsenal-refresh
U.S. Air Force Eyes Deeper Targets With Penetrator Arsenal Refresh
The U.S. Air Force is looking to replace the world’s largest conventional bomb to attack the hardest and most deeply buried enemy targets.
The Next Generation Penetrator (NGP) will replace the 30,000-lb.-class GBU-57, also known as the Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP), as soon as or shortly after the Northrop Grumman B-21 Raider is scheduled to enter service later this decade.
Instead of the 13-15-ton bunker-busting MOP, the Air Force wants a considerably lighter munition weighing no more than 11 tons.
The reduced weight could make the NGP easier to fit inside the B-21, an aircraft noticeably smaller than the double-MOP-carrying Northrop B-2 bomber.
A request for information (RFI) published by the Air Force on Feb. 8 offers few additional details of design requirements, but the service seems interested in leveraging improved accuracy to offset sheer weight and achieve similar effects.
The navigation system should be able to guide 90% of all NGPs to within 2.2 m (7.2 ft.) of the aim point, the RFI says. In addition, the contractor must show that its design can achieve this level of accuracy when satellite-based navigation aids are unavailable……
The winning bidder needs to be able to deliver and demonstrate 3-5 full-scale NGP prototypes within 18-24 months from contract award.….
The Air Force wants to leverage the experience from two decades of developmental projects to speed the NGP into service.
“The prototype penetrator warhead design effort should allow integration of technologies acquired and lessons learned under previous penetrator warhead developments to meet performance requirements,” the RFI states.
Facing similar challenges with deeply buried targets, South Korea’s military, which lacks a nuclear weapons capability, is seeking to arm itself with the world’s most powerful conventional missile.
The Hyunmoo-5 is reportedly the size of an intercontinental ballistic missile, with an 8-ton conventional warhead designed to collapse bunkers buried hundreds of feet underground by combining mass and hypersonic speed to generate a huge shockwave upon detonation.