Weapons system trial

The Royal Air Force

has successfully completed ‘demonstration of capability’ trials of the Raytheon Paveway IV Weapon System, the RAF's next generation general-purpose air-to-ground weapons system.

The trials, completed by the RAF’s 41(R) Squadron, Fast Jet & Weapon Operational Evaluation Unit, demonstrated Paveway IV integration with RAF Harrier GR9 strike aircraft.

The trials included the release of 14 operational weapons demonstrating capability across the full range of Paveway IV operational parameters. All trials were conducted at the Navy Air Warfare Centre (NAWC) in China Lake, California.

According to UK-based Raytheon Systems Limited, the Paveway IV weapon is a GPS-enabled day or night, all weather, general-purpose precision bombing system. It includes an insensitive munition warhead with increased penetration, cockpit selectable terminal fusing with air burst and post-impact delay, delayed arming to minimise collateral damage, and anti-jam resistance via inertial-only guidance mode.

Paveway IV has completed integration onto the Harrier GR9 and is currently being integrated onto Tornado GR4, Typhoon and the Joint Strike Fighter.