MARINE CORPS AIR STATION YUMA, Az. -- Marine Attack Squadron 214 became the first active duty AV-8B Harrier squadron in the Marine Corps to drop the Joint Direct Attack Munition Guided Bomb Units when they started training with the munitions in April at ranges 2507 North and 2507 South in California.
VMA-214 was the first fleet squadron to drop the JDAMs because the harrier was not designed to carry them, and modifications had to be made in order to accommodate the bomb.
“In order to do it they had to incorporate a mod into the aircraft that wasn’t supposed to be released until sometime around the end of this year or beginning of next year,” said Gunnery Sgt. Leland P. Beaty, VMA-214 avionics noncommissioned officer-in-charge. “It’s an arduous task to get them (modified). We had to incorporate the mods into the aircraft before it was ready to be tested, then train for the new system as far as maintainers and then get the birds ready for the pilots to actually go up and train in.”
Previously, harriers in a test squadron had been equipped to drop JDAMs at China Lake Naval Air Weapons Station, Calif., but many of their jets had different wiring configurations that required the VMA-214 technicians to improvise, said Beaty, a native of Waco, Texas.
“We were in contact with China Lake and civilian engineers came down. However, some of the stuff we were encountering they hadn’t foreseen because they’re working with a different platform than we are,” said Beaty.
There were no publications or wiring diagrams when the VMA-214 avionics shop went to work on adapting the harrier jets to carry the JDAMs, so the methods they’ve used are going to be distributed throughout the fleet for other squadrons, said Beaty. Those squadrons will use VMA-214’s methods when they begin to modify their harriers to carry the bombs, said Beaty.
The JDAM itself is different from other bombs in three main ways, said 1st Lt. Michael R. Cassidy, harrier pilot and ground safety officer for VMA-214.
The JDAM uses latitude and longitude coordinates to find the target, and then coordinates with GPS satellites to guide itself towards the target, said Cassidy. This makes it possible for the pilot to drop the bombs at night or during a storm without worrying about if the bomb will hit the target.
“(General purpose) bombs aren’t guided at all,” said Cassidy. “They fall in a trajectory that’s guided by gravity. When we drop them, just visually acquiring a target and releasing them.”
Laser guided bombs are also a staple of the harrier’s arsenal, said Cassidy. Laser guided bombs require a laser to be reflected off the target, either by a ground unit or from an aircraft, in order to guide the bombs. This can be a problem if the bombs are dropped from above a layer of clouds, which blocks the laser from the bomb’s sight.
“The difference in JDAM is, it doesn’t require any kind of mark,” said Cassidy. “It does not require us to physically see the target.”
Another advantage the JDAM has over other munitions is range, which comes in the form of strakes. These are metal attachments that give the bomb more lift as it travels toward the target, said Cassidy.
The third advantage the JDAM has over other bombs is, because of its GPS tracking system, pilots can release up to four bombs to be released at once, all at different targets, said Cassidy.
“We currently aren’t authorized to do that, but eventually we’ll be able to drop multiple JDAMs at multiple targets at the same time, and they have patterns that we can throw them out in as well,” said Cassidy.
There have been some growing pains associated with the new system, like there is with any change as large as this, said Cassidy, but the work done at VMA-214 will help other Marines as they add this weapon to their arsenal in the Global War on Terrorism.