Kratos Defense & Security Solutions and Boeing have announced a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the TDI-J85 turbine engine to provide propulsion for the Powered Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM).
Boeing’s Powered JDAM is a cost-effective solution for stand-off attacks against land and maritime targets. It is a guidance kit that converts unguided bombs, or dumb bombs, into all-weather precision-guided munitions. It combines a 500-pound ordnance, the conventional JDAM guidance kit, with a wing kit and a Kratos TDI-J85 engine to deliver a high-end range at an affordable price.
The cost savings are in part due to the low-cost turbine engine technology developed and enhanced by Kratos TDI’s four decades of experience.
Leveraging the JDAM family of weapons, it is designed to be produced at scale, exportable to any of the 35 JDAM partner nations, at a competitive price that enables mass production.
“We are proud that Boeing has selected our TDI-J85 engine for the Powered JDAM system. Incredible potential exists for this long-range, precision strike capability,” said Joseph Kovasity, Senior Vice President for TDI.
“At Kratos TDI, we have been singularly focused on producing small, low-cost, military-grade turbine engines at quantity in the United States with U.S. suppliers and partners. With the Kratos acquisition of TDI, we have substantially invested in manufacturability for production scale, resulting in an incredibly high engine performance-to-cost ratio while ensuring we can meet the large quantity deliveries predicted for the Powered JDAM system and program.”
“Powered JDAM is the next step in the modular evolution of the JDAM and JDAM Extended Range family of weapons systems. Its ability to complement exquisite weapons system with low-cost stand-off capability will add new weapons capacity to the U.S. defense industrial base to support the current fight and deter future fights,” said Bob Ciesla, Vice President of Boeing Precision Engagement Systems.
With a simple design, the TDI-J85 can deliver 200 lbf of net thrust at Sea-Level Static conditions. The engine can be modified to meet the specific requirements of Powered JDAMs, achieving the desired thrust output at the design point.
The TDI-J85 can run on various types of kerosene-based fuels, either commercial or military grade. The TDI-J85’s shaft-integral permanent magnet generator will produce up to 1.5 kW of AC power, from idle through maximum engine speeds, for P-JDAM’s onboard power requirements.
