India getting Textron bombs

BANGALORE, India, Feb. 9 (UPI) -- Textron Defense Systems of Massachusetts will provide sensor-fuzed weapons to India through a U.S. Air Force contract.

The Foreign Military Sale agreement for 512 CBU-105 sensor-fuzed bombs is worth $257 million. The company said $126 million of the total amount is funded immediately.

"We believe that SFW is truly the best area attack weapon in the world," said Ellen Lord, senior vice president and general manager of Textron Defense Systems. "Through a process of rigorous research, testing and analysis, we have created a weapon that is reliable, safe and meets current clean battlefield standards."

Textron, which disclosed the sale from an aerospace and defense exposition in India, said its SFW is unique among munitions systems because of its redundant technologies for clean battlefield operation. SFW has been engineered to eliminate the risk of unacceptable harm to civilians.

As a result, it is the only air-delivered weapon that meets the strict unexploded ordnance criteria for cluster munitions -- less than 1 percent UXO in intended operational environments -- set forth by the U.S. secretary of defense in 2008.

The SFW contains Textron Defense Systems' BLU-108 sub-munition and smart SkeetM warheads equipped with dual-mode passive infrared and active laser sensors. If a Skeet warhead doesn't detect a valid target over its lofted trajectory, one of three safety modes will activate.

The first two modes enable the Skeet to self-destruct after 8 seconds from launch or within a 50-foot altitude above the ground. The Skeet's third mode automatically renders the Skeet inoperable via self-deactivation within minutes of hitting the ground.