The United States Air Force has successfully evaluated a lightweight version of its heavyweight ship-killing bomb called Quicksink.
A B-2 Spirit bomber delivered the 227-kilogram version of the guided bomb off the coast of Florida over the Gulf Test Range, which is managed by Eglin Air Force Base, according to a June 2025 statement from the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL).
“Quicksink offers an affordable, game-changing solution to rapidly and efficiently sink maritime targets,” said Air Force Col. Dan Lehoski, commander of the 53rd Wing at Eglin. “AFRL’s 500-pound Quicksink variant adds options for the warfighter and enhances operational flexibility.”
Quicksinks use modified versions of the Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM), which is a guidance tail kit that converts free-fall bombs into smart bombs for use against stationary targets, according to the Air Force. The Quicksink program uses an infrared imaging “seeker” fitted to the bomb’s nose to allow it to engage moving targets such as ships.
The JDAM kits cost up to $30,000 each, and the unguided bombs add a “minimal increase” to the overall price, according to the defense news website The War Zone (TWZ). The AFRL has said that each Quicksink seeker unit costs about $200,000, and the goal is to lower the price to $50,000 when production ramps up, according to TWZ. “For comparison, the unit cost for the … U.S. military’s premier air-launched anti-ship cruise missile is around $3 million,” TWZ said. The website noted that U.S. warplanes — from fighters to strategic bombers — can carry far more of the munitions than cruise missiles, with the Quicksinks boosting crucial anti-ship capabilities in the case of an Indo-Pacific conflict.
Previous Quicksink tests used 900-kilogram bombs. The first of those was dropped in 2021 from an F-15E Strike Eagle, according to the defense news and intelligence website Janes. The first launch from a B-2 took place in 2024 during a Rim of the Pacific exercise when one of the 900-kilogram bombs sank the former USS Tarawa, an amphibious assault ship, Janes said.
The AFRL said the live-fire tests are a collaborative effort for it, the Air Force Test Center and the 53rd Wing.
“[The collaboration] rapidly prototyped an affordable concept for holding surface targets at risk,” Col. Matthew Caspers, AFRL Munitions Directorate commander, said in the statement.
AFRL said video of the latest test is classified. A video posted in 2022 depicted a Quicksink streaking toward an empty ship before exploding, snapping it in half and sending it underwater in seconds, according to a June 2025 report by DefenseNews online.