The Air Force jets based at Royal Air Base Lakenheath, in the United Kingdom, provided close air support for ground troops, according to a statement released the same day by U.S. Central Command Air Forces. “Specific targets, basing, detailed weapons loads, bomb damage assessment and operating areas for the F-15E Strike Eagle aircraft is not releasable at this time due to security considerations and host nation sensitivities,” the command said.

The aircraft, deployed to the “Southwest Asia area of operations,” began their mission at 1:30 a.m. Eastern Standard Time, according to the statement.

“Today, we added an extraordinary capability to our warfighter's arsenal,” Lt. Gen. Gary North, the combined forces air component commander, said in the statement. “This new air-to-ground munition gives our warfighters the explosive power of a conventional bomb without the fragmentation and blast area of other weapons in our inventory.”

The munitions are useful in urban environments “that call for precision accuracy and reduced collateral damage and in close air support missions that our air crews find themselves in during Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom,” North said.

The munition is capable of raining pinpoint precision explosives on enemy targets from up to 60 miles away. Each of the 250-pound, Global Positioning System-guided munitions can be independently targeted. A proximity sensor in the nose of the bomb also allows it to detonate at a preprogrammed distance from its target.

The F-15E Strike Eagle squadron, and its corresponding aircraft maintenance unit from Royal Air Force Lakenheath, is the first unit deployed in the global war on terror with the capability to drop the SDB, according to U.S. Central Command's statement. Air crews began training on the academics of the bomb and started using simulators in May.

Air Combat Command chief Gen. Ronald Keys this week signed a memorandum declaring the munition has surpassed its initial operational capability milestone. Members of the Air Armament Center's 681st Armament Systems Squadron at Eglin Air Force Base, FL, took part in the Iraq operation to “provide expert advice” as the bomb and aircraft were integrated for combat operations, according to U.S. Central Command.

Lawmakers on Capitol Hill have shown support for the smart munition. House and Senate conferees fully funded Air Force procurement of the Small Diameter Bomb in the fiscal year 2007 Defense Appropriations Act and in the FY-07 defense authorization bill.

Last month, ITAF first reported the Air Force had certified the F-15E Strike Eagle as capable of operating and deploying the SDB.

The SDB program completed all of its testing and training a month ahead of schedule and within cost estimates, Gary Libell, the Air Force's SDB weapon's test and logistics manager, told ITAF during an interview at the time.

The F-15E is certified to carry 12 SDBs into combat in three carriages. Without its external fuel tanks, the aircraft can carry 28 bombs in seven carriages, George Spencer, the service's director of the F-15 Systems Group at Wright Patterson Air Force Base, OH, said in an August interview. By next spring, the Air Force hopes to certify the fighter to carry up to 20 SDBs into combat.

In July, the first F-15Es were fitted with a training version of the SDB rack and with electronics that allow planes to drop simulated bombs, according to an Aug. 22 Air Force statement. During F-15E test launches, the munition was successful in 35 of 37 launches, a SDB program office official said in August.