Wind Corrected Munitions Dispenser stats, costs, factoids


Lessee -- just dumbly dividing $52.9M by 1755 gives
an average unit cost of ~$30,000, way more than I though
vanilla WCMDs were supposed to cost. Is the ER version
expensive enough to make up the difference?

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http://www.f-16.net/f-16_news_article1372.html

Friday, May 20, 2005 - Lockheed Martin was awarded a $52.9 million
contract to produce 1,655 Wind Corrected Munitions Dispenser (WCMD)
tail kits and 100 WCMD-Extended Range (ER) wing kits for the U.S. Air
Force. The purchase of 100 WCMD-ER kits signals the beginning of
production for this system.

The WCMD-ER system adds a wing kit to the GPS version of the WCMD tail
kit to obtain a range of 30-40 nautical miles. The kits will be mated
with the Sensor Fuzed Weapon (SFW), reducing collateral damage
concerns.

[snip]

This WCMD production lot (Lot 5) brings the total to approximately
28,000 tail kits for the U.S. Air Force. WCMD is used with area attack
weapons, such as the CBU-87 Combined Effects Munition (CEM) and CBU-97
Sensor Fuzed Weapon, to enhance accuracy by correcting for launch
transients, ballistic errors and winds aloft. The system provides
strike aircraft with an effective delivery means for employing area
attack munitions from any operational altitude or weather condition.

This effort includes guidance kits for an international customer,
engineering support and field installation support. Work under the
contract, awarded by the Air Armament Center at Eglin Air Force Base,
FL, will be performed at Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control
facilities in Orlando, FL; Ocala, FL; and Carlsbad, CA; and Lockheed
Martin Assembly Services in Americus, GA.

[snip]

WCMD was deployed in Afghanistan and Iraq on B-52 and F-16 aircraft. In
addition, the system is certified on the F-15E strike aircraft and the
B-1 bomber. Integration activities on the A-10 Thunderbolt
close-support aircraft, F-117 stealth fighter and F-35 Joint Strike
Fight are ongoing.

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$52.9M in Smart Cluster Bomb Kits to Oman, USAF
17-May-2005

Lockheed Martin Missile and Fire Control in Orlando FL received a $52.9
million firm-fixed-price contract for 1,655 Production Phase Wind
Corrected Munitions Dispenser (WCMD) Tail Kits: 1,618 for the U.S. Air
Force (with warranty), 15 USAF tail kits (no warranty), 22 Foreign
Military Sales tail kits to Oman, and 100 Production Phase Wind
Corrected Munitions Dispenser - Extended Range (WCMD-ER) kits for the
USAF.

[snip]

.