Defence

By Craig Hoyle at Farnborough air show

The UK Royal Air Force will take delivery of its first production Paveway IV precision-guided bomb from Raytheon Systems (RSL) during September, on the completion of a newly launched flight-test programme.

BAE Systems conducted the first guided drop of a Paveway IV from a Harrier GR9 development aircraft over the Aberporth test range off the Welsh coast on 15 June. The GPS-guided weapon was released from an altitude of 18,000ft (5,500m) and completed a 40s flight before striking its intended barge target at an impact angle of 90°. "This is a very big milestone for the programme," says RSL Paveway IV programme manager John Michel.

The trial will be followed by a further three risk-reduction releases of the 225kg (500lb) weapon from a Harrier GR9 by September, including GPS- to laser-guidance handover and inertial navigation-only tests from next month. A production readiness review will also take place during August, while qualification trials of a remaining two of eight weapon subsystems - guidance system and fuze - will conclude by September, says Michel.

The UK will conduct further tests of the Paveway IV at the China Lake test range in California in January-February 2007, ahead of the weapon's entry into service on the Harrier GR9/9A in June 2007. RSL will deliver more than 2,000 Paveway IVs to the UK at a rate of around 100 a month until late 2008, with the company expecting to agree contracts within the next year to also integrate the weapon on the nation's Panavia Tornado GR4, Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighter and Eurofighter Typhoon fleets.

RSL is, meanwhile, close to securing its first export buyer for the Paveway IV, with BAE offering the weapon as part of a comprehensive upgrade to Saudi Arabia's Tornado interdictor strike aircraft.