The US Air Force has no plans to fight a Bush Administration proposal to terminate a long-range, Lockheed Martin-made cluster bomb called the Wind-Corrected Munitions Dispenser-Extended Range (WCMD-ER).
Asked about the recent fiscal year 2006 budget request that would include WCMD-ER's cancellation, USAF chief of staff Gen John Jumper said he was not aware of any plans to protest the action.
The USAF, meanwhile, is actively seeking to reverse proposals forwarded by US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld that would terminate the Lockheed C-130J programme and prematurely end the Lockheed Martin-Boeing F/A-22 production line in 2008.
WCMD-ER, a weapon guidance kit attached to a combined effects munition, was launched in 2003 to provide a standoff attack capability against armoured targets, augmenting the close-in attack role of the baseline WCMD.
Source: Flight International
