The Air Force Is Making a Big Bet on StormBreaker Bombs
After over a decade in development, Raytheon’s GBU-53/B StormBreaker precision glide bomb is stepping up production. The Air Force plans to spend $320 million buying 1,500 units of the 204-pound munition, designed to home in on moving ground targets regardless of weather conditions or time of day.
These relatively small (7” diameter) but sophisticated weapons will be built at a facility in Tucson, Arizona through June of 2027. European missile manufacturer MBDA will contribute the pop-out wings that swing out from the bomb upon launch. The latest order is comparable to past unit costs, equating to $213,000 per bomb.
This is on top of the 2,626 units ordered since 2015—spanning the first five production lots—of which 840 went to the Navy. The Pentagon has suggested it might eventually order up to 26,610 StormBreakers, though figures of 12,000 or 17,000 have also been floated. The bombs were already authorized on F-15E strike planes, but are in the process of being integrated into Super Hornet fighters and F-35 stealth jets, too.
While it’s not quite the Dwarven lightning axe of the same name used by Thor in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, it still has a whiff of the supernatural thanks to its three-eyed “tri-spectral” seeker, offering the option of laser-guidance, an uncooled infrared seeker and a millimeter-wave radar—all mounted on the same moveable gimbal in the nose.
Those sensors can be used in concert to improve accuracy, or used individually if one sensor type is degraded by counter-measures or the explosive device encounters smoke, fog, or rain (which is why 'StormBreaker' is all-weather capable). On average, the bomb lands within a meter of its designated target.
While gliding to its target, the bomb’s sensors also allow it to function as a reconnaissance system, feeding back sensor data to be used in locating additional targets or updating mission plans. It can even be instructed to search for specific enemies, using its infrared system to classify possible targets and send back targeting suggestions for approval or refusal by a human operator. This allows use in a fire-and-forget manner, improving survivability of the launching aircraft.
For a good measure, StormBreaker also uses jam-resistant GPS and inertial guidance, and can receive course-corrections from other aircraft or ground forces via its two-way Link 16 datalink. That could potentially allow re-directing of strikes to avoid collateral damage to civilians, or to hit higher priority targets as they’re detected.
When launched from maximum altitude, the glide bomb can engage moving targets up to 45 miles away, or static ones at 69 miles—allowing use from outside the range of short-range air defenses, and even lower-end medium-range systems. Against closer targets, though, the bomb employs an energy-burning ‘spiral mode’ trajectory to avoid overshooting its target.
The weapon’s 105-pound multi-purpose shaped-charge warhead is said to be effective against targets ranging from main battle tanks to infantry, unfortified buildings, and patrol boats. The bomb’s ability to hit moving targets is meant to make it capable of enforcing a ‘no-drive’ zone (the ground-based equivalent to a No-Fly Zone), forbidding traversal of an area by a warring party’s ground vehicles. It also seems useful for battling navies that rely on numerous smaller boats, like those of North Korea or the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps.
Between the warhead’s precision and relatively small size—as compared to unguided or GPS-outfitted bombs often clocking in at 500-, 1,000 and 2,000 pounds—Raytheon has argued that this bomb is ideal for minimizing collateral damage in densely populated areas.
Having all of these options built into one weapon streamlines logistics by removing the need to load multiple weapon types on a warplane in the interest of accounting for various contingencies.
The air forces of Finland, Germany, and Norway also plan to procure StormBreakers to arm their fleets of F-35 stealth fighters. Though it was designed during an era focused on battling insurgents in the Middle East and Central Asia, the weapon will figure into European conventional deterrence of Russia’s military.
South Korea has considered obtaining GBU-53/Bs for its F-15K fighters, which would allow them to pickoff North Korean missile trucks from a safe distance. Australia has also requested—and been given authorization to purchase—up to 3,900 StormBreakers for its F-35A fighters at an estimated cost of $815 million, but its unclear if an order has been placed.
It’s been a long journey for the winged bomb, which was initially inspired by problems encountered during the U.S. Air Force’s 1999 bombing campaign that sought to compel Serbian forces out of Kosovo.
Originally, a rival design from Boeing won an Air Force competition in 2005, but the program was re-competed due to a corruption scandal involving the Air Force’s undersecretary-of-acquisition-turned-Boeing-executive. Raytheon’s GBU-53/B prevailed in the re-compete in 2010.
The Pentagon gave Raytheon $794 million in contracts in 2006, 2009 and 2019 shepherding the weapon from R&D through manufacturing and finally to integration and sustainment. During operational testing in the mid-2010s, the weapon allegedly achieved a 90% success rate, though failures noted in government reports led to improvements being made to the bomb’s algorithms. Other problems related to the weapon’s fuse (going off prematurely, or not at all), fold-out wings, and ruggedness in maritime conditions (such as exposure to seawater on a carrier deck) emerged and were addressed.
The project overran costs to an extent that the Pentagon required Raytheon to cover some expenses out of pocket. Major delays to the F-35 program also, at one point, caused congressional overseers to consider nixing the bomb’s entry into service. More recently, Raytheon had to correct a flaw in which vibrations threatened to cause the bomb’s tail fins to pop out mid-flight despite restraining clips—something which could damage carrying aircraft, particularly if carried internally.
The Air Combat Command finally approved the GBU-53/B’s operational use on F-15E Strike Eagle jets in September 2020, with fourteen more test shots made in 2021. These beefy twin-engine, non-stealth fighter bombers can carry up to 28 Stormbreaker bombs externally on seven quad racks.
Integration on the U.S. Navy’s carrier-based FA-18E/F Super Hornet jets is also planned using the BRU-55/A twin-storage rack by L3Harris, as you can see in the video below published by The Drive.
However, the F-35s that these bombs were originally intended for can’t carry the warheads until until they are integrated with the F-35’s much anticipated Block 4 upgrade. One issue is that the internal bays of the F-35B jump jet sub-model proved unable to accommodate the BRU-61A racks, which can hold four Stormbreakers each and releases them using compressed air ejectors. Following modifications, however, integration tests are apparently proceeding well, with a series of seven F-35B jump jet test-drops concluded in September of 2022—with two high-speed releases at transonic Mach .9 speeds.
Up to two of the F-35’s internal stations can support the quad racks, for a total 8 GBU-53/Bs. And eight more that could be mounted externally when stealth is not required.
There have already been captive-carry tests to potentially integrate the weapon on the Air Force’s numerous F-16 fighters, which can also use the BRU-55 rack. Looking forward, the AC-130W and J gunships, MQ-9 combat drones, F-22 Raptor stealth fighters, A-10 attack jets, and B-52, B-1 and B-2 heavy bombers have, in the past, also been listed as candidates for StormBreaker integration.
Intriguingly, Raytheon has also suggested adding propulsion—likely a rocket booster—to further extend the weapon’s reach. If that can be done at limited additional cost, the glide bomb might transform into a comparatively cheap missile for picking off air defenses and high-value mobile targets from a moderate standoff distance.
Unfortunately, there’s no getting around the fact that, like any other aerial bomb, StormBreaker is all about the ugly business of killing people. But the ultimate hope is its three-eyed sensors could enable it to more effectively destroy valid military targets on the move—like columns of invading tanks, militants racing towards a community in ‘technical’ pickup trucks, or ballistic missile launchers setting up to fire—while avoiding flattening everything and everyone else nearby.
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