Small Diameter Bomb Logistics Team; Rapid improvement team keeps SDB successful

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Stacia Zachary
  • 96th Air Base WIng Publics Affairs
EGLIN AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. --  Guided munitions such as the Small Diameter Bomb have helped change the way wars are fought.

"This air-to-ground munition gives our warfighters a conventional bomb without the fragmentation and blast area of other weapons in our inventory," said Dave Ward, 681st Armament Systems Squadron. "The weapon is revolutionary and is based on the Small Smart Munitions technology."

The SDB, the first of its kind in the Air Force inventory, gives aircrews the ability to destroy targets that would normally be "passed over" due to the proximity of friendly troops, civilians, structures or personal property. It is also an all-weather global positioning system-guided munition capable of standoff ranges of more than 40 miles.

"Today, we added an extraordinary capability to our warfighter's arsenal," said Lt. Gen. Gary North, the Combined Forces Air Component commander in a 2006 interview after the first SDB arrived in theater. "The GBU-39/B (SDB) provides the Air Force with the ability to reduce collateral damage, while providing joint terminal attack controllers another option to prosecute targets. It is a significant milestone for our coalition forces fighting the global war on terror."

When the SDB-I was first delivered to support operations in the Global War on Terror in September 2006, the logistics team traveled to the deployed theater to set up training for both the pilots and the maintainers. The team, or loggies, was instrumental in helping the first operational deployment of the weapon which occurred Oct. 5, 2006, in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.

"Our crew is heavily committed to supporting the warfighter; and if that means getting a team together to go over to the Area of Responsibility, then that is exactly what we do," Mr. Ward said. "We have a continual hands-on commitment to keep the SDB a working and highly successful weapon - every glitch the maintainers or pilots encounter, we immediately attack the problem to keep the system in top condition."

What makes the SDB so unique is it comes completely assembled and virtually maintenance free.

"Another unique capability this system has is the pneumatic carriage system," said Master Sgt. Brian Mosier, 681st ARSS SDB-I Logistics Team.

The pneumatic, or clean, carriage system works exceptionally well with the SDB-I and the Focused Lethality Munition (FLM), which is a spiral development of the baseline SDB.
"The BRU-61/A carriage is unique in the fact that it is a completely clean system to employ the weapon," Sergeant Mosier said. "From a maintainer's perspective, this is important because it is non-maintenance intensive, meaning it doesn't need to be broken down and cleaned periodically like other bomb racks."

The SDB-I logistics team is responsible for finding good, quick-fixes to problems reported from the warfighter. They pinpoint an area on the weapons system that needs adjustments, creates a solution to the problem and gets the parts or overhauled munitions or new procedures back in theater and ready for use. These solutions are then rolled back into the production process so that each production lot the system is improved.

The team's job doesn't end there. They are also responsible for taking problem reports from the field and working with the prime vendor, Boeing, to resolve system anomalies.

"The SDB-I Logistics Team supports the SDB system as the warfighter uses it," said Mr. Ward. "This usually entails ensuring the technical data is good, solving system problems and making sure the carriage system properly employs the munition. At any given point, Boeing is on hand to keep this weapons system successful and a valued asset to us."

The SDB-I team needs to make sure that they are creating accurate and suitable solutions because time is money and manpower is at the ultimate premium.

"In a time when the Air Force is trading people for equipment, we need to ensure that the weapons we are delivering to the warfighter are quality and require as little maintenance as possible," said Mr. Ward.

The loggies philosophy is to provide a mature, useable product to the warfighter. Their mission is to find adequate and timely fixes to any problem that might be encountered because that is exactly what the customer should expect.

"I have always lived my life with the attitude that if you are going to put your name on something, make it quality," said Marie Strevey, an SDB team member who has worked for the military for 29 years. "I apply that even now - I strive to make something the (warfighter) can use."

The SBD Logistics Team recently won the AFMC nomination for the 2008 General George C. Kenny Award and they are currently being considered for the Air Force-level award. The award recognizes teams who apply lessons learned from other experiences and applied them to leverage changes to current research and technology.

The size and accuracy of small diameter bombs allows aircraft to carry more munitions to more targets and strike them more effectively with less collateral damage. Because of its capabilities, the Small Diameter Bomb system is an important element of the Air Force's Global Strike Task Force. Under the official title of "Production and Deployment for the Small Diameter Bomb," the program is being conducted by the Air Armament Center's 681st Armament Systems Squadron located at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla.