Skip to main content (Press Enter).
 News
    
        Photos

    Week in Photos

    Air Force TV

    Commentaries

    Features

    Art

    About Us
    
        Air Force Senior Leaders
    
        SECAF

    CSAF

    CMSAF

    Biographies

    Fact Sheets

    SECAF Reading List

    CSAF Leadership Library
    
        CSAF Leadership Library 2022

    CSAF Leadership Library 2021

    CSAF Reading List Pre-2020 Archive
    
        2018 CSAF Reading List

    2017 CSAF Reading List

    2016 CSAF Reading List

    CSAF Leadership Library 2023

    CMSAF Leadership Library

    50 Years of the CMSAF

    Adjunct Professors

    Air Force Strategic Documents

    Arctic Strategy

    Empowered Airmen

    State Licensure Portability

    Careers

    AF Federal Advisory Committees

    AF 75th Anniversary

    Policy Updates

    AF Content Management

    Contact Us

    AF Sites
    
        Site RegistrationU.S. Air Force LogoAir Force

        Policy UpdatesNewsroomReoptimizationBIOGRAPHIESAF Senior Leaders      The 96th Test Wing recently concluded a GBU-72 test series which featured the first ever load, flight and release of the 5,000-pound weapon at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla.The 96th Test Wing recently concluded a GBU-72 test series which featured the first ever load, flight and release of the 5,000-pound weapon at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla. (Courtesy photo)
                
                Photo Details /
                        Download Hi-Res
        


        The 96th Test Wing recently concluded a GBU-72 test series which featured the first ever load, flight and release of the 5,000-pound weapon at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla.The 96th Test Wing recently concluded a GBU-72 test series which featured the first ever load, flight and release of the 5,000-pound weapon at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla. (Courtesy photo)
                
                Photo Details /
                        Download Hi-Res

Eglin AFB test squadron releases GBU-72 for first timePublished Oct. 13, 2021
                    
                    By  Samuel King Jr.
            **EGLIN AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. (AFNS) --**While cruising over the **Eglin Air Force Base** range, a 96th Test Wing**F-15E Strike Eagle** released a GBU-72 Advanced 5K Penetrator at 35,000 feet, Oct. 7.
The 5,000-pound bomb’s release marked the end of a test series planned by the 780th Test Squadron and performed by the 40th Flight Test Squadron. That series included the first-ever weapons load, flight and release of the weapon, July 23. The squadron’s test goals were to show the weapon could safely release from the aircraft and validate a modified 2,000-pound **Joint Direct Attack Munition** tail kit’s ability to control and navigate a 5,000-pound weapon.
The test series, deemed a success by the **Armament Directorate**’s Direct Attack Division, consisted of three flights. Those flights and drops were made much more complex since this was the first GBU-72 release.
In addition to the successful flight test series, the ground test series was Eglin’s largest-ever arena test, surpassing the previous titleholder by more than double. The arena test, an open-air test where the warhead detonates surrounded by blast pressure sensors and fragment-counting equipment, helps to determine the weapon’s lethality. The 780th TS also planned this test event.
The flight test series success depended upon the 780th TS’s planners and the 40th FLTS’s aircrews making the right choices, creating new procedures and adjusting quickly to ensure the weapon released correctly and the mission remained on schedule.
“Test series of this magnitude are never successful, overall, because of just a single person or organization,” said Ronald Forch, 780th TS programming engineer over the GBU-72 flight and ground test efforts. “They are ultimately successful because the test engineer is able to perform a role very similar to that of a symphony conductor guiding the performance of a series of consecutive miracles – none any more important than the other.”
The Armament Directorate recently commended the squadron with the External Team of the Quarter award for its GBU-72 program efforts.
The GBU-72 was developed to overcome hardened, deeply buried target challenges and designed for both fighter and bomber aircraft. The weapon design and its projected effectiveness were developed using advanced modeling and simulation techniques and processes before the first warhead was forged. This is a repeatable process for all future direct attack weapons. Lethality is expected to be substantially higher compared to similar legacy weapons like the GBU-28, according to James Culliton, GBU-72 program manager.
“An advantage to the modeling and simulation to design approach used is that early prototypes are production representative,” Culliton said. “This helps us bring our operational test partners in sooner with eyes-on, hands-on participation, validating our design and procedures sooner while including input that improves the weapon. The collaboration we’ve enjoyed with the 780th TS and 40th FLTS to this end has been the best I’ve experienced in acquisitions.”
The GBU-72 program now moves on to additional JDAM integration test flights and developmental and operational testing in 2022.LR 



USAF 



AF 



Air Force 



Eglin Air Force Base 



GBU-72 



Air Force Materiel Command 



AFMC 



JDAM 



F-15E Strike Eagle Featured News
        Senior Leader Priorities
                SecAF, CSAF, CMSAF begin Indo-Pacific trip focused on ACE
                    
                    DAF leaders talk budget, reoptimizing the force
                    
                    DAF leaders speak at National Character and Leadership Symposium
                    
                    DAF members recognized during BEYA STEM awards
                    
                    DAF senior enlisted advisors discuss Airmen, Guardians in the fightInnovation
                F-16s arrive to be modified for autonomous testing
                    
                    AFWERX director discusses role of tech startups, quick innovation in Great Power Competition
                    
                    DAF delivers lethality at the speed of data during Project Convergence Capstone 4
                    
                    DAF welcomes industry partners to HQ development program
                    
                    DAF announces Spark Tank 2024 finalistsMAJCOM News
                Safety enterprise announces new mission, vision, goals in 2024 strategic plan
                    
                    Air Combat Command welcomes new commander
                    
                    USAFE-AFAFRICA commander discusses Integrated Air, Missile Defense during Munich Security Conference
                    
                    Flosi to AFMC family: Embrace change, make every day count
                    
                    AMC rises to increasing global tension
 Quick Links
AccessibilityContact UsEqual OpportunityFOIA | Privacy | Section 508Information QualityInspector GeneralJAG Court-Martial DocketLink DisclaimerNo FEAR ActOpen GovernmentOSI Tip LinePlain LanguageQuestionsResilienceRSSSite MapVeterans Crisis LineCareers
Join the Air ForceAir Force BenefitsAir Force CareersAir Force ReserveAir National GuardCivilian ServiceConnect
            Get Social with Us
            
            Official United States Air Force Website
    Hosted by Defense Media Activity - WEB.mil