{"id":14470,"date":"2023-03-29T10:45:18","date_gmt":"2023-03-29T07:45:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/?p=14470"},"modified":"2023-07-11T10:29:32","modified_gmt":"2023-07-11T07:29:32","slug":"us-air-force-awards-contract-for-1500-stormbreaker-smart-weapons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/us-air-force-awards-contract-for-1500-stormbreaker-smart-weapons\/","title":{"rendered":"US Air Force awards contract for 1500 StormBreaker smart weapons"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>The United States Air Force has awarded defense firm Raytheon Technologies a $320 million contract to produce and deliver 1500 StormBreaker smart weapons.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The StormBreaker is an air-to-surface, network enabled smart weapon can engage moving targets in all weather conditions using its multi-effects warhead and tri-mode seeker.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>President of Air Power at Raytheon Missiles &amp; Defense, Paul Ferraro said, &#8220;Having StormBreaker in the warfighter\u2019s arsenal provides unprecedented capability against moving targets, regardless of conditions.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Ferraro added that &#8220;It also expands our production line and reinforces our commitment of ensuring the warfighter has the next-level munitions they need to safely and successfully accomplish the mission.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>According to the Raytheon Technologies Corporation, the StormBreaker&#8217;s integrated seeker &#8220;works in three modes to provide maximum operational flexibility&#8221;, including millimeter wave radar that detects and tracks targets through weather, imaging infrared that provides enhanced target discrimination, and semi-active laser enables the weapon to track an airborne laser designator or ground-based target. It can also use GPS guidance to hit targets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The weapon contains small explosives, which makes it precise and keeps the collateral damage to a minimum. It can hit moving, armored targets from more than 40 miles away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"alignleft size-large is-resized\"><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/US-Navy-StormBreaker-smart-weapon.jpg?ssl=1\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/US-Navy-StormBreaker-smart-weapon.jpg?resize=836%2C696&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-14471\" width=\"836\" height=\"696\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/US-Navy-StormBreaker-smart-weapon.jpg?resize=1024%2C853&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/US-Navy-StormBreaker-smart-weapon.jpg?resize=300%2C250&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/US-Navy-StormBreaker-smart-weapon.jpg?resize=768%2C640&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/US-Navy-StormBreaker-smart-weapon.jpg?w=1200&amp;ssl=1 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 836px) 100vw, 836px\" \/><\/a><figcaption><em><sup>U.S. Navy conducted the first weapon drop of a Raytheon StormBreaker smart weapon from a Marine Corps F-35B Lightning II. (Image Credit: Raytheon Missiles &amp; Defense)<\/sup><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>According to Raytheon, &#8220;The weapon has proven itself in many complex test scenarios, against a variety of targets in extreme environmental conditions&#8221;.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The weapon weighs about 200 pounds (92 kilograms), and the F-15E Strike Eagle fighter jet can carry up to 20 StormBreaker smart bombs. The Warheads, equipped with shape charge jets, fragmentation and blast charge effects, and an option for a delayed smart fuze, are &#8220;powerful enough to defeat tanks&#8221;.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>StormBreaker weapon is fielded on the U.S. Air Force F-15E Strike Eagle and is officially approved for operational use on the fighter jet. The weapon system is also being tested on the F-35B and F\/A-18 fighter jets. The StormBreaker weapon has more than hundred successful operational test shots to date.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The United States Air Force has awarded defense firm Raytheon Technologies a $320 million contract to produce and deliver 1500 StormBreaker smart weapons.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14473,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1,125],"tags":[227,256,6,397,252,31,399,698,7,240,63],"class_list":["post-14470","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-united-states","tag-air-force","tag-aircraft","tag-defense","tag-f-15","tag-f-35","tag-missile","tag-raytheon","tag-stormbreaker","tag-u-s","tag-usaf","tag-weapons"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/US-StormBreaker-smart-weapon.jpg?fit=690%2C370&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7jJWb-3Lo","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14470","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14470"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14470\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14480,"href":"https:\/\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14470\/revisions\/14480"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14473"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14470"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14470"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ir-ia.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14470"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}