The GBU-44/B Viper Strike

glide bomb A glide bomb or stand-off bomb is a standoff weapon with flight control surfaces to give it a flatter, gliding flight path than that of a conventional bomb without such surfaces. This allows it to be released at a distance from the target rat ...

was a

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-aided

laser-guided Laser guidance directs a robotics system to a target position by means of a laser beam. The laser guidance of a robot is accomplished by projecting a laser light, image processing and communication to improve the accuracy of guidance. The key ide ...

variant of the

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Brilliant Anti-Tank (BAT) munition which originally had a combination acoustic and

infrared homing Infrared homing is a passive weapon guidance system which uses the infrared (IR) light emission from a target to track and follow it seamlessly. Missiles which use infrared seeking are often referred to as "heat-seekers" since infrared is radi ...

seeker. The system was initially intended for use from

UAV An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), commonly known as a drone, is an aircraft without any human pilot, crew, or passengers on board. UAVs are a component of an unmanned aircraft system (UAS), which includes adding a ground-based controller ...

s, and it was also integrated with the

Lockheed AC-130 The Lockheed AC-130 gunship is a heavily armed, long-endurance, ground-attack variant of the C-130 Hercules transport, fixed-wing aircraft. It carries a wide array of ground-attack weapons that are integrated with sophisticated sensors, naviga ...

gunship, giving that aircraft a precision stand-off capability. The Viper Strike design is now owned by

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History

Testing

The Viper Strike bomb first underwent testing in 2003. On March 29 and 30, Viper Strikes released from an

RQ-5 Hunter The IAI RQ-5 Hunter unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) was originally intended to serve as the United States Army's Short Range UAV system for division and corps commanders. It took off and landed (using arresting gear) on runways. It used a gimbaled ...

scored 7 out of 10 direct hits at

White Sands Missile Range White Sands Missile Range (WSMR) is a United States Army military testing area and firing range located in the US state of New Mexico. The range was originally established as the White Sands Proving Ground on 9July 1945. White Sands National P ...

. The other three bombs missed their targets by a few feet but still inflicted measurable damage. The objective of the tests was to validate the concept of the Viper Strike and the operational feasibility of Viper Strike integrated on the Hunter UAV. In June 2005, Northrop integrated the Global Positioning System (GPS) into the laser-guided munition to provide highly accurate midcourse guidance. This allowed the weapon to be launched from much greater altitude and standoff range. During tests, an unarmed weapon successfully acquired GPS data after dispensing from an aircraft and flew to pre-assigned GPS waypoints. Following an extended, nearly horizontal midcourse flight, the GPS-enhanced munition switched over to the semi-active laser seeker once it entered the target area to detect and track the laser-designated target. In January 2007, Viper Strikes successfully destroyed a series of moving and stationary targets in testing at the White Sands Missile Range. They were guided to their targets by the Hunter UAV's laser targeting system.

Deployment and continued tests

The GBU-44/B Viper Strike was first used in combat in September 2007. An MQ-5A Hunter UAV used one to kill two men who were setting up a roadside bomb. On September 1, 2009, it was reported that the Hunter had successfully completed testing of the new GPS-guided Viper Strike weapons system and that it would soon deploy to theater. On June 2, 2010, Northrop announced that the Viper Strike would be added to the

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KC-130J The Lockheed Martin (previously Lockheed) KC-130 is a family of the extended-range tanker version of the C-130 Hercules transport aircraft. The KC-130J is the latest variant operated by the United States Marine Corps (USMC), with 48 delivered ...

refueling and cargo aircraft. Northrop delivered 65 munitions. On December 12, 2011,

MBDA MBDA is a European multinational developer and manufacturer of missiles.MBDA Inc. US Division Cor ...

Inc. purchased Northrop Grumman's Viper Strike munitions business located in Huntsville, Alabama. On April 16, 2012, Viper Strike bombs scored multiple direct hits from a KC-130J Harvest Hawk at the Naval Air Warfare Center's China Lake, California Weapons Station. The munitions were dropped from the new pressurized "derringer door," which used a side door in the fuselage that enables the aircraft to launch and reload munitions while the aircraft remained pressurized. In August 2012, MBDA announced that Viper Strike munitions scored direct hits against high speed vehicles during a two-day test. Viper Strikes successfully hit eight vehicles travelling at "extremely high speeds" in varying realistic scenarios. The Viper Strike was phased out of SOCOM's inventory due to failure to achieve lethality performance.

Launch platforms

* Current: **

MQ-5 Hunter The IAI RQ-5 Hunter unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) was originally intended to serve as the United States Army's Short Range UAV system for division and corps commanders. It took off and landed (using arresting gear) on runways. It used a gimbaled ...

** KC-130J Harvest Hawk ** AC-130W Stinger II

Specifications

* Length: 0.9 m (36 in). * Weight: 20 kg (42 lb). * Diameter: 14 cm (5.5 in). * Wingspan: 0.9 m (36 in). * Glide ratio: 10:1 * Guidance: GPS-midcourse/terminal

laser homing Laser guidance directs a robotics system to a target position by means of a laser beam. The laser guidance of a robot is accomplished by projecting a laser light, image processing and communication to improve the accuracy of guidance. The key ide ...

. * Accuracy:< 1 m CEP. * Range: 10+ km * Warhead: 1.05 kg (2.3 lb) (

HEAT In thermodynamics, heat is defined as the form of energy crossing the boundary of a thermodynamic system by virtue of a temperature difference across the boundary. A thermodynamic system does not ''contain'' heat. Nevertheless, the term is al ...

References

External links

Northrop Grumman BAT / GBU-44/B Viper Strike - Designation Systems

GBU-44 Viper Strike: Death From Above - Defense Industry Daily

GBU-44/B Viper Strike
- MBDA {{DEFAULTSORT:GBU-44 B Viper Strike Guided bombs of the United States Military equipment introduced in the 2000s Northrop Grumman