January 23, 2010:
Italy has bought a manufacturing license, for $34 million, to produce 500 SDB smart bombs, and fifty launchers for their aircraft. The American manufacturer (Boeing) will supply key mechanical and electrical components, and the Italian builder will supply the rest and assemble and test the bombs. Boeing previously did a similar deal with the Italian firm (Oto Melara) to produce JDAM GPS guided bombs. Oto Melara is a division of Finmeccanica, the largest defense firm (nearly $20 billion a year in sales) in Italy.
It was four years ago that the air force finally got the SDB into service, in Iraq. The SDB was supposed to enter service in 2005, in the wake of the 2004 introduction of the 500 pound JDAM. But there were many technical problems with the SDB. That's because this was not just another "dumb bomb" with a GPS guidance kit attached. The SDB had a more effective warhead design and guidance system. It's shape is more like that of a missile than a bomb (nearly two meters, as in 70 inches, long, 190 millimeters in diameter), with the guidance system built in. The smaller blast from the SDB resulted in fewer civilian casualties. Friendly troops can be closer to the target when an SDB explodes. While the 500, 1,000 and 2,000 pound bombs have a spectacular effect when they go off, they are often overkill. The troops on the ground would rather have more, smaller, GPS bombs available. This caused the 500 pound JDAM to get developed quickly and put into service.
The SDB is basically an unpowered missile, which can glide long distances. This makes the SDB even more compact, capable and expensive (about $70,000 each.) JDAM (a guidance kit attached to a dumb bomb) only cost about $26,000. The small wings allow the SDB to glide up to 70-80 kilometers (from high altitude.) SDB also has a hard front end that can punch through several feet of rock or concrete, and a warhead that does more damage than the usual dumb bomb (explosives in a metal casing.) The SDB is thus the next generation of smart bombs.
