Smart weapon integration

Raytheon’s StormBreaker Boosts US Navy’s Super Hornet Armaments

Raytheon, an RTX unit, announced on Monday that its StormBreaker glide bomb has been fielded on the U.S. Navy’s F/A-18E/F Super Hornet, the first Navy aircraft approved to carry the smart weapon. Other plane armaments onboard include Paveway laser-guided bombs and Maverick missiles.

According to Paul Ferraro, Raytheon’s air power president and a speaker at a past Potomac Officers Club event, StormBreaker’s capabilities offer the opportunity “to strike targets in difficult and dynamic scenarios.” The smart weapon exemplifies the use of digital technologies for advanced air dominance munitions “ensuring the continued relevance of fourth-generation aircraft,” he added.

StormBreaker’s Super Hornet integration drew lessons from the smart weapon’s fielding in the U.S. Air Force’s F-15e Strike Eagle, thus cutting time and cost for the Navy, RTX said.

The glide bomb gained USAF initial operating capability for the F-15E in 2022, and the smart weapon is currently in integration testing with all three F-35 Joint Strike Fighter variants, the company added.

A multimode seeker using an imaging infrared camera, millimeter-wave radar and semi-active laser runs StormBreaker’s guidance system, which is also operable with GPS and inertial navigation guidance.

The smart weapon has a range of over 40 miles and is capable of targeting mobile adversaries on land or at sea.