Air Force taps Lockheed Martin to build smart-bomb modification kits

Lockheed Martin last week landed a $76-million follow-on contract from the U.S. Air Force to produce Paveway II Plus Laser Guided Bomb (LGB) kits.

The Bethesda, Maryland-based defense contractor is expected to begin delivering the laser-guided bomb kits during the second quarter of next year. Lockheed Martin will be producing both the guidance technology and the tail assemblies for GBU-10 and GBU-12 LGBs.

The Paveway II Plus Laser Guided Bomb essentially acts as a retrofit kit to modify conventional gravity bombs into more precise LGBs. The kit from Lockheed Martin works as a cost-effective way to put conventional munitions on targets more accurately. A laser seeker guides a pneumatically-controlled tail assembly to control the flight path of the bomb.

"The Paveway II Plus guidance system significantly enhances overall system performance and precision, and provides the U.S. Air Force with a cost-effective capability,”Joe Serra, Lockheed Martin’s manager for precision guided systems, said.

Serra said the contractor’s assembly line is fast and efficient, which will prove an asset for fulfilling the contract for the Air Force.

"Our high-efficiency production lines enabled us to offer the U.S. Air Force a best-value solution for their LGB kit requirements," Serra said.