NAVAIR Delivers Dual-Mode Bomb

Naval Air Systems Command delivered the first Dual-Mode Laser-Guided Bomb (DMLGB) to the Fleet this month. DMLGB provides the Navy F/A-18 Hornet and the Marine Corps AV-8B Harrier aircrews the capability to employ a precision weapon in Global Positioning System aided inertial navigation system, or laser guidance mode.>> The combined Navy/Lockheed Martin team achieved another milestone in providing warfighters with innovative and cost-effective, direct-attack capabilities, said Capt. Mat Winter, PMA 201 Precision Strike Weapons program manager. DMLGB brings the tactical flexibility with proven precision effectiveness our warfighters so urgently need. I am extremely proud of our team and their delivery of this phenomenal capability to the Fleet today.>> The DMLGB, manufactured by Lockheed Martin for the program office, integrates a low-cost retrofit to an existing laser-guided bomb kit, upgrading the existing computer control group with an INS/GPS, providing dual-mode capability to the warfighter.>> With its combined upgraded system, existing semi-active laser seeker and anti-jam technology, the DMLGBs design improves mission effectiveness against fixed and relocatable targets. The retrofit kit allows the weapon system to provide precision-strike capabilities in all weather conditions.>> Following early combat operations in Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom, the U.S. Marine Corps issued an urgent universal need statement defining a requirement for a dual-mode guided bomb to fill a specific capability gap for the warfighters.