SDB is an unpowered, glide weapon that has deployable wings and is guided by a self-contained INS/GPS set. Small diameter bombs may be launched from standoff ranges beyond 30 nm at low or high altitudes in day or at night in all weather conditions.
The GBU-39 is most effective against non-moving targets.
The GBU-39 uses a high explosive warhead and is most efficient against soft-skinned targets like air defense vehicles, artillery pieces, radars and communications towers, fuel tanks, etc. SDBs can attack pre planned targets downloaded from the DTE, targets tracked by onboard aircraft sensors, targets provided by datalink, or targets entered by the pilot on the UFC.
The SDB weapon does not require the aircraft to fly directly towards the target, but allows release within a launch envelope.
In this mission we are going to attack pre planned targets downloaded from the DTE (DTC - Data Cartridge)
In this mission we are tasked to strike the 1027th Air Defense Battalion, which is basically a SA-5 site. As you can see in the screenshot below, there are 9 steerpoints in the route. What we'll do is to add eight extra steerpoints starting from steerpoint 10, and each of them will hold the exact coordinates of an individual target to strike. For this mission, those targets will be six SA-5 launchers, one Square Pair radar and one Barlock-B radar. We decided to use eight targets because we can carry eight GBU-39B bombs.
The F-16 cannot release SDBs in ripple mode so in order to release multiple SDBs in one pass on multiple targets you should follow these steps:
Following this procedure (which is real for the F-16) will let you use SDBs as a pre-planned GPS guided weapon and drop many in one pass. This procedure applies also for JDAM type bombs.
When you finish assigning all targets, don't forget to save to the DTC
1. ICP - Select/verify A-G Master Mode.
2. UFC/DED -
3. SMS weapon base and control page -
4. Cursor Control - Zero cursor, unless cursor corrections required.
5. MASTER ARM switch - ARM.
6. HUD
7. WPN REL button - Depress and hold until the FPM flashes (> 1.6 seconds for single).
8. Change to steerpoint 11 and repeat from step 6, and so on until you drop the last bomb in steerpoint 17. If we are fast enough, we can release all eight bombs within 20 seconds.
All eight pre-planned target destroyed: