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WCMD Goes Operational
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 America’s warfighters dropped cluster bombs contained in wind-corrected munitions dispensers for the first time in combat against Taliban forces in Afghanistan with what Air Force officials described as devastating effects. The WCMD is a tail kit that is attached to a tactical munitions dispenser that contains cluster bombs. “Before introducing WCMDs to the Air Force inventory in April 2001, munitions dispensers were unguided. They often missed the intended target because of pilot error or strong winds, especially when launched from mid to high altitudes,” said Col. Ken Merchant, director of Eglin’s Area Attack System Program Office. Experts at the Air Armament Center at Eglin AFB, Florida, began developing the guidance kit for cluster munitions in 1996. Pentagon officials estimated it would take ten to twelve years to get the guidance kit to the warfighters at a cost of $40,000 per kit. The WCMD was developed in half that time at a cost of $10,000 per kit. It has exceeded all accuracy and performance requirements. |
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