By David Pugliese
Defence Watch
Colonel Daniel Constable, Commander of Canada’s Joint Task Force – Iraq will be updating the news media on Thursday about Canada’s operations against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).
Meanwhile with the U.S. going through its bomb stocks on targets in Iraq and Syria, Lockheed Martin announced it received a $40.3 million contract from the U.S. Air Force for follow-on production of Paveway II Plus Laser Guided Bomb (LGB) kits.
Deliveries will begin in June 2015 and will include computer control groups and airfoil groups for GBU-10 and GBU-12 bombs, the company says in a news release. The Paveway II Plus LGB kits incorporate an upgraded laser guidance package, significantly improving overall system performance and precision, the firm added.
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The Paveway II Plus LGB kit consists of a MAU-209C/B computer control group containing the electronic guidance system and an airfoil group to provide lift and stability to the weapons in standard GBU-10 MK-84 (2,000 lb.), GBU-12 MK-82 (500 lb.) and GBU-16 MK-83 (1,000 lb.) series configurations, the company noted.
The RCAF has also ordered more smart bomb kits as it prepares for a campaign in Iraq that could last six months or longer, military sources say.
The order for 400 bomb-guidance kits from the U.S. would top off ammunition stocks that had been depleted by the air force’s 2011 bombing campaign in Libya. The kits, outfitted on smart bombs, improve targeting and allow the weapons to be used in poor weather.
The latest order of bomb guidance kits makes use of the satellite-based Global Positioning System to direct munitions to their target.
“There is no shortage in ammunition stocks,” Department of National Defence spokeswoman Ashley Lemire told Defence Watch. “DND will continue to sustain the stocks of ammunition necessary to meet the long-term training and operational commitments of the (Canadian Forces).”
During the Libyan war, the RCAF had to buy more smart bombs as it and other NATO nations started running out of the weapons.
Those countries had misjudged how long Libyan leader Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi could hold out.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper predicted shortly after the bombing campaign started in mid-March 2011 that Gadhafi “simply will not last very long.” The Libyan strongman held on until early October that year.
His regime fell after he was captured by rebels and executed.
