New Smart Weapons Are High On Air Force Chief's Agenda.

• Author: Erwin, Sandra I.
• Position: U.S. Air Force

Decisions on future procurements of precision-guided weapons are among the items on the agenda of Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. John Jumper.

Specifically, Jumper will be expected to firm up an acquisition strategy for long-range cruise missiles. Even before he became the Air Force's chief last month, Jumper had been overseeing a so-called "cruise-missile roadmap" in his previous job as head of the Air Combat Command.

The new chief also will be watching closely the progress of the Air Force Small Diameter Bomb (SDB) program, which has been dubbed a "critical capability" for future air combat. The Air Force wants a smaller weapon--from 100 to 250 pounds--that would make it possible for existing aircraft to drop more bombs per sortie.

Earlier this year, the Air Force backed away from a program called the Extended Range Cruise Missile. Under ERCM, the service had planned to purchase several hundred new weapons, to boost its inventory of precision-guided cruise missiles. The Air Force asked Congress for permission to reallocate to other accounts the $40 million that had been approved for ERCM in fiscal year 2001.

Cruise-missile inventories had gone down dramatically after Operation Desert Fox against Iraq in 1998 and Operation Allied Force against Yugoslavia in 1999. In those two conflicts, the Air Force fired several dozen CALCMs (conventional air-launched cruise missile). The inventory was down to less than 100 in 1999.

The CALCM, launched from a B-52 bomber, is built by replacing the ALCM's nuclear warhead with conventional munitions. The Boeing Co. began modifying the missile inventory in 1986. The conventionally armed missile was designated AGM-86C.

The CALCM program only was intended to fill the gap until the new ERCM was available. However, an ongoing nuclear-posture review by the Bush administration could result in the availability of more nuclear-tipped ALCMs, providing the Air Force an alternative to buying new missiles. Cruise missiles with the standoff, precision-guidance capabilities that the Air Force wants cost about $1 million each.

Boeing had planned to participate in the ERCM competition with a new-production variant of CALCM.

The Air Combat Commands cruise-missile acquisition plan--aimed to replace the ERCM program--is considering two options: a new CALCM proposed by Boeing and an upgraded version of the Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile (JASSM), made by Lockheed Martin Corp. That version is known as JASSM-ER, for extended range.

A recommendation from the Air Combat Command on a missile acquisition plan could come by the end of the year. An ACC spokesman was unable to provide a specific date.

Air Force Col. Tim Moore, deputy...