JDAM sales likely will get a further boost with the introduction of a new variant for Mk.82 500-lb. bombs that Boeing is developing on its own. Boeing will use a moving assembly line, much like an auto manufacturer, to efficiently build as many as 40 Delta IV common booster cores a year. Major parts will arrive at the line tested and ready for assembly and checkout. Length of stay at any one of the line's eight work cells is just under seven days, Boeing said. The common booster core will be used as the first stage of all seven planned Delta IV versions.
Assembly is set to begin next year.
Called Smartplug, the technology replaces spark plugs with a similar-size device that consists of a heated catalyst mounted in a small precombustion chamber. The fixed position of the catalyst determines engine ignition timing at all rpm, according to Bill Burnett, president of Sandpoint, Idaho-based AquaLytic Technologies Inc., which is commercializing the technology. Although a small electrical heater is used to bring the catalyst to operating temperature for engine start and warm-up, no electrical power is required to sustain ignition during normal operations on unleaded fuels. Flame jets, created when atomized fuel reaches the catalyst, smoothly and thoroughly ignite combustion in the engine cylinders. Smartplug benefits include improved engine performance, lower emissions, reduced noise and vibration, and the ability to maintain engine power during electric system failure or when fuels are inadvertently mixed, Burnett said.