Raytheon (NYSE: RTN) engineers report that they've reduced the time required to build the Small Diameter Bomb II (SDB II) uncooled tri-mode seeker from more than 75 hours, to 40 hours. One notable time-saving technique the defense contractor said it employed was to reduce the cable bundle for the seeker's wiring harness. This cut the amount of time required to install the seeker's cabling from seven hours to less than 30 minutes. "Reducing the amount of touch labor required to build the seekers keeps us on track to meet our price commitment to the customer," commented Harry Schulte, vice president of Air Warfare Systems for Raytheon Missile Systems. "By leveraging the cutting edge technology available in the world's first automated tri-mode seeker factory, Raytheon is able to meet its cost commitments while ensuring we deliver the warfighter a consistently reliable and accurate weapon."
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Raytheon says the SDB II's seeker fuses data from its millimeter-wave radar, uncooled imaging infrared and semiactive laser sensors. The result is a powerful, integrated seeker that seamlessly shares targeting information between modes, enabling the weapon to engage fixed or moving targets around-the-clock in adverse weather conditions. "We designed Raytheon's uncooled tri-mode seeker to be easy to manufacture and assemble," said Tom White, Raytheon's SDB II program director. "The Raytheon tri-mode seeker team continues to find innovative ways to drive cost out of the weapon, and a year into the program we are beating several cost projections to make the weapon even more affordable."
