Boeing, LM To Join Forces In SDB II Competition
09/29/2005 09:27:43 AM
By Marc Selinger

Boeing and Lockheed Martin have decided to join forces rather than compete against each other for the second increment of the U.S. Air Force's Small Diameter Bomb (SDB).

The two companies had been expected to offer separate bids for SDB II, which is intended to give the small, precision-guided bomb the ability to destroy moving targets (DAILY, Sept. 15). But "both companies just came to the conclusion that they could put forward the best solution and proposal" by teaming with each other, an industry source told The DAILY Sept. 28.

Teaming arrangement details are to be disclosed during a Sept. 29 media teleconference. But The DAILY has learned that the Boeing-Lockheed Martin bid will combine Boeing's bomb design, which has recorded a 95% successful drop rate in SDB I tests, with the all-weather, tri-mode seeker that Lockheed Martin has been developing as the prime contractor for the Army-led Joint Common Missile program.

Raytheon has also indicated that it plans to submit an SDB II bid. The Air Force is expected to release a final request for proposals in October.

Boeing was picked over Lockheed Martin in August 2003 to be SDB's prime contractor, but the Air Force later announced it would hold a competition for the second increment after former Air Force acquisition official Darleen Druyun admitted giving preferential treatment to Boeing on several other contracts, and after the Government Accountability Office found that Druyun was involved in earlier SDB II decisions (DAILY, Feb. 25).

Aviation Week.