The U.S. Department of State has approved the Foreign Military Sale of Joint Direct Attack Munitions – Extended Range (JDAM-ER) and related equipment to Saudi Arabia, with an estimated value of $5 billion…
Saudi Arabia has requested to purchase 5,004 KMU-572 Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) guidance kits, 5,000 KMU-556 JDAM guidance kits, 5,004 BLU-111 500-pound-class general-purpose bombs, and 5,000 BLU-117 2,000-pound-class general-purpose bombs.
The principal contractor will be The Boeing Corporation, and no known offset agreement has been proposed in connection with the potential sale.
JDAM-ER is a GPS/INS-guided precision-strike munition that significantly increases the weapon’s range by adding a deployable wing kit to the standard JDAM guidance kit.
The 500-pound-class JDAM-ER can provide a range of more than 40 nautical miles (74 kilometers), while the system enables existing general-purpose bombs to be converted into precision-guided munitions and is particularly used with 500-pound-class bombs such as the BLU-111/MK 82.
The JDAM family can also be used with 2,000-pound-class BLU-117/MK 84 bombs, providing these munitions with precision-strike capability through a GPS-aided inertial navigation system.
JDAM-ER enables aircraft to release the munition without approaching the target area, from both high and low altitudes, enhancing platform survivability and operational flexibility during air-to-ground strike missions…