Here we go again..................
U.S. Marine Corps To Adopt Raytheon GBU-49 For F-35B The U.S. Marine Corps will adopt Raytheon's 500-lb. GBU-49 to enable the Lockheed Martin F-35B Lightning II to strike fast-moving and maneuvering targets sooner than expected.
Lt. Gen. Jon Davis, head of Marine Corps Aviation, confirms that his service will follow the U.S. Air Force's lead in acquiring the dual-mode GBU-49 "Enhanced Paveway II Lot 5" for the F-35B short takeoff/vertical landing variant, since no other weapon being integrated in Block 3F can accurately strike quick and agile targets traveling up to 70 mph, such as pickup trucks or armored vehicles. Davis says the service is also considering ways to get the
Boeing GPS/INS-guided Small Diameter Bomb and newer Laser Small Diameter Bomb onto the F-35B sooner.
Davis has previously advocated for the Raytheon Small Diameter Bomb Increment II, which has a tri-mode seeker for all-weather attacks against highly mobile targets. But that would require a significant integration and testing effort, so it will likely remain in the F-35's Block 4 follow-on modernization program for introduction in the early 2020s.
Boeing's SDB was already slated for integration in the Block 3F software load. But the high off-boresight laser seeker attachment developed by
Boeing for the U.S. and international customers was not previously part of the F-35's Block 3F weapons plan.
The F-35 weapons inventory is currently limited to striking fixed and relatively slow-moving targets, since the Lockheed-made Lightning II Electro-Optical Targeting System (EOTS) does not have a lead-laser function like other modern targeting pods.
The all-digital GBU-49 does those calculations internally and corrects for target speed and heading, so the laser designator only needs to point directly at the target--fixed, moving or maneuvering.
Boeing has been promoting its GBU-54 Laser Joint Direct Attack Munition as an alternative solution for addressing the F-35's moving-target shortfall, saying it could be integrated and certified relatively quickly.
The F-35B can carry two 500-lb. bombs internally in its stealth configuration and an additional four under its wings in regular attack mode. The Marine Corps is particularly eager for SDB so the F-35B can carry up to eight weapons internally, quadrupling the number of potential strikes per sortie.
The Air Force is the lead service for the GBU-49, but does have a large stockpile. The Enhanced Paveway II is regularly carried on the General Atomics Aeronautical Systems MQ-9 Reaper, but several coalition partners have been the most eager adopters to arm fighter aircraft.
The Air Force pushed for the GUB-49 to be installed on the F-35A sooner to fill the moving target capability gap because it has the same size and mass properties as a regular 500-lb. GBU-12 Paveway II. It is also compatible with the same stores interface as the UK's dual-mode Raytheon Paveway IV, greatly reducing the amount of certification testing required.
The Air Force will integrate GBU-49 in parallel to the F-35 Block 3F program and is planning to conduct a flight test in the first quarter of 2018.
Davis praised the F-35B's combat capability, saying the aircraft is achieving kill ratios as high as 20 or 21 to zero in mock exercises. He says range infrastructure should be upgraded with more advanced threat simulators to fully stress the F-35's capabilities.
USS Gerald Ford (CVN-78).............. First mistake was naming it after Ford............... not the best of luck.............https://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2017-06-15/new-u-s-carrier-hobbled-by-flaws-in-launching-landing-planesThe F-35 was billed as a fighter jet that could do almost everything the U.S. military desired, serving the Air Force, Marine Corps and Navy 
