Wing/Glide Kits For Laser-Guided Bombs Highlight Response To Evolving Threats, New Technological Opportunities
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Note: The following text was originally posted on my X/Twitter account.
This image of a laser-guided bomb of the American Paveway series (the second munition from the top with the two sets of cruciform/x-shaped wings) with what appears to be a wing kit—range-extension kit—highlights an interesting but non-surprising development. The use of external laser designators (i.e., not mounted on the aircraft carrying and releasing the laser-guided bomb) is an established practice. It is now possible to use uncrewed aircraft, including small, light, and fairly inexpensive multirotor drones (see images 2-3 and the video), to illuminate/paint targets with a laser designator. A wing kit for the ubiquitous Paveway series of laser-guided bombs will allow aircraft to employ a munition that is not heavily, if not wholly, reliant on the availability of accurate and reliable GNSS/GPS positioning data to attack distant targets even in the face of extensive adversary—and friendly—electronic warfare activity. A laser-guided Paveway series bomb equipped with a wing kit converts the Paveway laser-guided bomb into a guided glide bomb. This particular version of the Paveway series may be compatible with the internal weapons bay found on the likes of the F-35 and F-22, among other crewed and uncrewed existing and prospective aircraft.
It is worth noting that the French AASM, which is a powered/boosted guided glide bomb design that is equipped with a solid-propellant rocket motor, is available in a version that is equipped with a semi-active laser homing (SALH) seeker. The South African Denel Dynamics Umbani, which is now produced by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) as the al-Tariq, is similarly available with a SALH seeker. The Israeli Spice family of guided bombs, in contrast, are equipped with an electro-optical seeker and a radio frequency datalink that offers the remote human operator feedback and does not, therefore, require external illumination in the manner of the American Paveway series and other SALH guided bomb designs more generally.
It will be interesting to see whether RTX offers this apparent glide kit for use with the Paveway IV, which is a UK-specific evolution of the longstanding American Paveway design that is also used by Saudi Arabia. The Paveway IV is notably equipped with both an INS+GNSS guidance system and an SALH seeker. A Paveway IV with a wing kit will offer the United Kingdom a guided glide bomb capability that it does not currently have and may become the primary armament for the UK's F-35B—and future F-35A—fleet(s). Note that this image is from DSEI 2025, a major military industrial exhibition that is currently underway in the United Kingdom.