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By Michael Sirak
The Air Force is launching an ambitious program to develop a sophisticated smart fuze for its bunker buster munitions, according to senior service weapons developers and recently issued documents.
The Hard Target Void Sensing Fuze (HTVSF) is a new-start program for FY '08 that will set the Air Force anew on the path to field a long-desired fuze that can count floors and sense voids in multistory underground facilities and detonate the host munition's warhead at the precise preprogrammed moment and spot, the senior officials said. It will leverage insights gained from the previous Hard Target Smart Fuze project that was unable to overcome technical challenges and did not result in the desired capability.
The goal of the new initiative is to field the new fuze in FY '13 on legacy 2,000-pound and 5,000-pound penetrator munitions, Judy Stokley, deputy program executive officer for Weapons, said Oct. 10 at the 33rd Air Armament Symposium in Ft. Walton Beach, Fla. Such...