The completion of these trials is a significant milestone that paves the way for work to bring the weapon into Service.
The weapon's combined Demonstration of Capability and Operational Evaluation Trials were conducted by the Air Warfare Centre (AWC) at the Naval Air Warfare Centre, China Lake, California.
A total of fourteen operational rounds were dropped from Harrier GR9 aircraft flown by 41(R) Squadron, the RAF's Fast Jet & Weapons Operational Evaluation Unit.
The trials demonstrated the full range of Paveway IV operational functionality including all of the weapon's fuzing modes. Whilst the formal AWC trials reporting process is ongoing, there were no issues identified which would prevent the weapon's progression into Service.
PWIV will provide an all-weather, day and night precision bombing capability with new levels of flexibility.
The GPS-aided inertial guidance system provides a through-cloud precision bombing capability which can be pre-planned on the ground, targeted through the aircraft's on-board sensors or programmed using target coordinates provided by Forward Air Controllers (FACs).
The weapon also has a laser guidance system which enables the pilot or FACs to visually acquire targets and prosecute attacks in support of ground operations.
The significant new capability that Paveway IV brings is the ability to selectively programme the fuze target effects from the cockpit. The pilot can select the angle at which the weapon impacts the target and also the direction from which it approaches the target. This allows the pilot to select the optimal impact conditions to maximise the effect of the 500lb (227kg) warhead.
The pilot also has the ability to select the optimum weapon fuzing mode with which to attack a target. Variable post-impact delays can be set to penetrate semi-hardened structures or reduce collateral damage effects.
The weapon can also be set to detonate on Impact or, by using an in-built Height of Burst sensor, can be set to detonate at variable heights above the ground.
Successful completion of the trials allowed the Freefall Weapon Integrated Project Team to progress confidently to the Demonstration of Capability trials in the US which were a great success.
The MOD Project Team Leader Captain Howard Holdsworth, RN said:
"The recent successes are the culmination of a tremendous team effort. Each and every stakeholder in the Paveway IV community has played their part in getting to this point of maturity. In the past 12 months we have completed an exceedingly challenging rapid development programme which included dynamic trials and culminated in a thorough Operational Evaluation at China Lake".
Throughout the trials, the weapon performed well and demonstrated exceptional levels of accuracy and impressive terminal effects. Work continues to analyse the telemetry data to underpin the AWC's recommendations for Service Acceptance.
Captain Howard Holdsworth, RN commented:
"The magnitude of the challenges which we have overcome should not be under-estimated and the very strong alliance which we have formed with industry bodes very well for the future. We can all be justifiably proud of our achievements; Paveway IV is a very capable weapon system indeed.
Integration of Paveway IV onto Tornado and Typhoon is underway with plans to extend it to Joint Combat Aircraft in due course.