Page 5 - Edwards AFB Desert Wings 4-15-16

April 15, 2016 Desert Wings 5
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TESTING, from 1 WHVW$VDQH[DPSOHJURXQG¿WDQG Air Force photograph by Jet Fabara
function testing revealed interfer-
held up to eight weapons. ence issues between aircraft compo- ended as a success. weapons, the B-52 Bomber will straight to OT, the program would
The CSRLs were used to carry nents and weapon arming systems. The B-52 IWBU program in the continue to be a valuable asset to likely been found unsuitable to the
This vital issue was corrected, en- the war fighting capability of the ZDU¿JKWHU
gravity nuclear weapons, the nu- abling proper functionality of the near future will expand the internal United States Air Force. Several im-
clear Air-Launched Cruise Missile weapons after they are released smart weapon carriage capability to provements were made while in DT The opportunity to identify sys-
and the Conventional Air-Launched from the aircraft. include Joint Air-to-Surface Stand- that improved the system and made tem shortfalls and implement cor-
Cruise Missile. off Missiles and Miniature Air- UHDG\IRU27DQGWKHZDU¿JKWHU rections in DT was key to ensur-
Flight testing was broken into Launched-Decoy variants. ing this capability reaches the war
These weapons operated via a three categories: Safe Separation, If the IWBU program had gone ¿JKWHUDVVRRQDVSRVVLEOH
MIL-STD-1553 data bus, which was Weapon Integration and Actual With expanded carriage of smart
incompatible with MIL-STD-1760 Weapon Delivery.
weapons. The IWBU program
provided eight additional MIL- 7KH¿UVWÀLJKWZDVDZHDSRQUH-
STD-1760 weapon stations by modi- lease to demonstrate safe separation.
fying existing CSRLs and integration Four weapons were to be released.
of existing B-52 equipment. The &DSWLYHFDUU\ÀLJKWVZHUHÀRZQWR
PRGL¿HG&65/VZHUHGHVLJQDWHGDV test the overall system and its ability
CRLs. to perform simulated weapon releas-
es with actual weapon hardware in
The test team consisted of Air the loop. These tests revealed several
Force civilian and military person- issues, one being a dynamic software
nel from the 412th Test Wing, the anomaly that caused the offensive
49th Test and Evaluation Squadron avionics computer processors to
from Barksdale Air Force Base, La.; VKXWGRZQDVWKHDLUFUDIWZDVÀ\LQJ
the 53rd Test Management Group towards the target. System issues dis-
from Eglin Air Force Base, Fla.; covered in DT provided insight that
Air Force Lifecycle Management supported two hardware fixes and
&HQWHU%3URJUDP2I¿FHWK three additional software versions.
Test Wing — Air Force Seek Eagle
2I¿FH(JOLQ$)%DQG%RHLQJ While these discovered issues
drove some schedule delays, this
Early on, the perceived “simplic- was far less delay and cost than
ity” of the system created discus- would have occurred had these is-
sion regarding the need or value sues been discovered during opera-
of conducting developmental test. WLRQDOWHVWRUDIWHU¿HOGLQJ
Fortunately, the decision was made
WRSURFHHGZLWK'7¿UVW Although the system will
continue to be improved, the
During rigorous ground test ef- JDAM IWBU flight test program
IRUWVKDUGZDUHUHODWHGGH¿FLHQFLHV
were discovered that needed to be
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