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AGM-130 Missile

The AGM-130 is a powered air-to-surface missile designed for high- and low-altitude strikes at standoff ranges against a variety of targets.

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History

The first unit was operational in 1994.

Description

Carrying forward the modular concept of the GBU-15 guided weapon system, the AGM-130 employs a rocket motor for extended range and an altimeter for altitude control. The AGM-130 provides a significantly increased standoff range than the GBU-15. The AGM-130 has to two variants, based on the warhead. The AGM-130A is a MK-84 blast/fragmentation warhead and the AGM-130C is a BLU-109 penetrator. The AGM-130 is equipped with either a television or an imaging infrared seeker and data link. The seeker provides the launch aircraft a visual presentation of the target as seen from the weapon. During free flight this presentation is transmitted by the AXQ-14 data-link system to the aircraft cockpit monitor. The seeker can be either locked onto the target before or after launch for automatic weapon guidance, or it can be manually steered by a weapon systems officer. Manual steering is performed through the two-way data link. The AGM-130 is designed for use in the F-15E aircraft. Development of the AGM-130 began in 1984 as a product improvement of the GBU-15 guided glide bomb.

For the primary mode of operation, the aircraft flies to a pre-briefed launch position. The survivability of aircraft and crew is enhanced by launching the weapon at low altitude and significant standoff range, thus avoiding detection by enemy air defenses. After launch, the weapon flies through glide-powered-glide phases toward the target area with midcourse guidance updates provided by global positioning system (GPS) navigational information or by the weapon systems officer through the data link. Upon termination of the powered flight phase the rocket motor is ejected. As the target comes into view, the weapon systems officer has dual flexibility in guiding the weapon via the data link. For automatic terminal homing, the guidance tracker is locked on target but can be manually updated for precision bombing. When total manual guidance is used, the operator manually guides the weapon to the target aimpoint. For those aircraft not equipped with a data-link pod, the weapon may be launched in the direct attack mode.