Textron Systems’ BLU-108 Submunition Is Successful In Weaponized UAV Demonstration

Wilmington, Mass. – September 13, 2004 - – Textron Systems announced today that its BLU-108 Sensor Fuzed Submunition was successfully dropped at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida from the Sentry HP Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV), resulting in multiple target hits. The test demonstrated the capability of weaponizing small, FCS Class II-category UAVs to engage multiple target threats. The Sentry HP UAV is made by DRS Unmanned Technologies of Mineral Wells, Texas. The U.S. Air Force’s UAV Battle Lab sponsored the Sentry HP UAV/BLU-108 drop test, with participation by the USAF Sensor Fuzed Weapon (SFW) Project Office at Eglin AFB, Florida and the U.S. Army’s Aviation & Missile Research Development & Engineering Center (AMRDEC) at Redstone Arsenal, Alabama.

“This successful BLU-108 submunition demonstration from the Sentry HP UAV combines a set of unique technologies, and an innovative approach to the delivery of a combat-proven weapon,” states Colonel Larry Felder, commander of the UAV Battle Lab at Indian Springs, Nevada. “It will provide the war fighter with a new capability to help win the Global War on Terrorism. It expands the mission of small and medium size UAVs that were previously limited to reconnaissance and surveillance roles, and it proves that existing technologies will allow a transition to Predator-class Remotely Piloted Aircraft.”

Lieutenant Colonel Richard Mountain, the Sensor Fuzed Weapon Squadron Commander at Eglin AFB, states, “The cooperation between the various Air Force organizations and Army Lab at Redstone Arsenal, along with the BLU-108 submunition’s adaptability to other carriers, ensured the UAV demonstration would be a success. The BLU-108 brings a great deal of proven capability to the war fighter.”

“The Eglin AFB demonstration showed that BLU-108 can expand UAVs from their current intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) missions to the further capability of engaging and defeating wide area vehicle threats with an affordable, combat-proven weapon,” said Tom Harrington, vice president of Air Launched Weapons, Textron Systems. “It is also an excellent payload candidate for other weapon systems, such as the Army’s Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System (GMLRS) and the Navy’s Tomahawk cruise missile.”

“The mission flexibility of the Sentry UAV family made it possible to show in this demonstration how easily the Sentry HP UAV can be transformed from ISR to weapon delivery assets,” said Frank Morian, vice president and general manager, DRS Unmanned Technologies. What is unique in this test is that the delivery vehicle was a small UAV with only an 80-pound payload capacity and no sophisticated interfaces to the BLU-108 weapon. The 325-pound Sentry HP UAV was modified for weapon delivery using a standard Air Force bomb rack.

Currently in production for the U.S. Air Force, the BLU-108 Sensor Fuzed submunition is capable of destroying moving and fixed land combat vehicles, including heavily armored tanks, mobile air defense sites, missile launchers, and soft skinned support vehicles.

Developed in partnership with the U.S. Air Force as part of Textron’s CBU-105 Sensor Fuzed Weapon air-to-surface munition, BLU-108 is the only U.S.-manufactured smart submunition in production today. The BLU-108 Sensor Fuzed submunition contains four smart Skeet warheads equipped with dual-mode passive infrared and active laser sensors for target detection and engagement. The target is destroyed using an explosively formed penetrator (EFP). Each Skeet warhead features built-in redundant self-destruct logic modes, leaving a clean battlefield after a missile strike.