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Tinker Tests Powerful New Cruise Missile

Weapon Penetrates Concrete, Then Detonates

OKLAHOMA CITY -- The U.S. Air Force, led by a 50-person team at Midwest City's Tinker Air Force Base, successfully tested a powerful new cruise missile recently that could be used in the war against terrorism, Eyewitness News 5's Kathy King reported.

The weapon, the AGM-86D conventional air launched cruise missile, or CALCM, was launched this month from a B-52 bomber and flew a preplanned flight path to its target -- a hardened, buried target complex, which the warhead penetrated before detonating. After launch, the missile's folded wings, tail surfaces and engine inlet deploy, allowed it to fly complicated routes to a target through the use of an onboard global positioning system hundreds of miles away.

"They'll fly their mission over mountains in valleys ... it doesn't matter the terrain," said the program's manager at Tinker. He did not want to be identified. "With eight different missiles, you can have them all programmed to go to different locations or the same location."

Unlike other weapons, the ACM-86D maximizes the warhead's effectiveness against hardened targets by allowing it to maneuver and dive onto its target in a near vertical position, King explained.

"The AGM-86D will be able to destroy buried or reinforced targets from standoff ranges of hundreds of miles," said Carl Avila, Boeing ALCM/CALCM program manager.

The warhead can penetrate solid concrete, traveling more than 9 feet into the ground before it detonates. The actual depth capabilities of the missile are classified, King explained.

"There are a lot of command and communication facilities located underground, and we know there are a lot of chemical and biological factories located underground," the Tinker program manager said. "That's the type of facility these could be used to go against."

The new weapon has not been used in the war on terrorism, at least not yet, King reported.

But the Tinker program manager said the team is making sure the missiles are ready if they are needed.

The flight test was conducted at the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico.

-- Anonymous, December 12, 2001