The Pentagon is preparing bombs for the Ukrainian Armed Forces to strike at Russian electronic warfare systems
The US Department of Defense has signed a $23.5 million contract with SARA (Scientific Applications and Research Associates) to purchase Home-on GPS (HOJ) sensors for detecting electronic warfare and installing long-range homing heads on JDAM-ER guided bombs.
The upgraded bombs will be able to hit not only electronic warfare equipment but also target the corresponding stations.
According to the terms of the contract, some of these kits will be transferred to Ukraine, but details on the quantity and delivery time are not specified.
Home-on GPS kits are means of counteracting and defeating enemy electronic warfare equipment. There is not much information about SARA’s brainchild in the public domain. One of the known details is that it was first mentioned in 2018. This type of device belongs to the class of compact and relatively inexpensive devices that can be easily integrated into existing aircraft weapon guidance systems.
The HOJ kits were tested in December 2020 as part of the US Air Force’s Golden Horde program and were successfully tested. In addition, The Drive emphasizes that this Pentagon decision was made shortly after the ineffectiveness of GLSDB on the battlefield in Ukraine was recognized due to the counteraction of Russian electronic warfare.
According to some analysts, in the future, HOJ kits for the Ukrainian Armed Forces may be integrated into other types of weapons, such as AGM-88 HARM anti-radar missiles.
