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Last week, the budget committee of the German Bundestag cleared the way for the GBU-54 steering bomb procurement contract. The Bundeswehr needs a total of 2,290 ammunition systems. The delivery is planned for the period 2021 to 2024.

The general contractor Diehl Defense has 213 million euros available, which will be distributed among the five partners with subcontracts.

Business Description million Euro proportion of
Diehl Defense Project management, integration, approval 30,4 14%
Boeing LJDAM control 139,2 66%
RWM Italia Standard Mk-82 bomb body 22,1 10%
Junghans Microtec Detonator FBM21-GER 18,2 10%
Northrop Grumman Navigation 2,7 1 %

The GBU-54 consists of the 277 kg standard Mk-82 bomb body, to which the troops attach the LJDAM control element and the detonator in preparation for use. Since the Bundeswehr has 1,380 Mk-82 bombs that can be used for this purpose, the inventory is replenished with an additional 910 Mk-82s.

The GBU-54 will be delivered in five lots. Lots one to three will be used to procure the controls and detonators for the existing bombs. In this phase the bombs to be delivered are subjected to an acceptance test and qualified. After successful qualification, lots four and five will be called up with a complete GBU-54.

With the all-weather GBU-54 adapted to the Eurofighter, the Bundeswehr will then have ammunition for fighting moving targets within a range of up to 30 km in scenarios with a high hazard potential. The Bundeswehr has been using GBU-54 with LJDAM control since 2009 on the Tornado fighter aircraft.

Gerhard Heiming

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