inaccurate and not planned GBU-54 Laser/GPS JDAM

[PacFlyer23]

I learned DCS in the A-10 so I was very surprised when moving over to the F/A-18C that the GBU-54 Laser/GPS JDAM was not available for it. Is this due to the era in which it was deployed - mid 2000s?

[Muchocracker]

Was not an available load in the timeframe cutoff ED has set

[lee1hy]

TOOOOO SAD 

[PacFlyer23]

Yes this clarifies things.

I was a bit confused by the media release from 2008 on the first use of the GBU-54, but it was just the USAF...

"The U.S. Air Force has deployed in combat for the first time, the guided bomb unit-54, Laser Joint Directed Attack Munition – or LJDAM. 

The GBU-54 is the U.S. Air Force's newest 500-pound precision weapon, equipped with a special targeting system that uses a combination of GPS and laser guidance to accurately engage and destroy moving targets. 

On, Aug. 12, 2008, F-16s from the 77th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron deployed to Joint Base Balad, Iraq, successfully executed this "combat first" when the weapon was employed against a moving enemy vehicle in Diyala province, Iraq."

Then in October 2010 the USAF 510th Fighter Squadron employed a GBU-54 laser joint directed attack munition for the first time in the Afghan area of operations.

However, the US Navy didn't get GBU-54s until 2012 when it reached initial operational capability.