The U.S Navy’s Naval Air Systems Command awarded Boeing, an American multinational corporation designing, manufacturing, and selling airplanes, rotorcraft, rockets and satellites, a $357.85 million contract for the acquisition of laser guided precision rockets.
The U.S. Navy will procure full rate production Lots 4-8 of the DSU-38 A/B Precision laser guided sets for the U.S. Navy, U.S. Air Force and foreign military sales customers including the governments of United Arab Emirates, Belgium, Turkey, Morocco and Saudi Arabia.
The PLGS is used with the KMU-572 guidance sets to create the Laser Joint Direct Attack Munition system. According to Boeing, this systems is a low-cost guidance kit that converts existing unguided free-fall bombs into near-precision guided “smart” weapons.
The JDAM kit consists of a tail section that contains a Global Positioning System/Inertial Navigation System and body strakes for additional stability and lift. Laser JDAM is operational on U.S. Air Force F-15E and F-16 and U.S. Navy F/A-18 and A/V-8B platforms.
The majority of work will be performed in Fort Worth, Texas and is expected to be completed in December 2021.