Boeing’s 300-Mile JDAM Finds Its Engine: Kratos Spartan J85 Selected for JDAM LR

Kratos has committed part of its expanded Spartan engine capacity to Boeing’s JDAM Long Range production programme. The company’s TDI-J85 turbojet has been selected to power the weapon, which is designed to carry a 500-pound-class payload more than 300 nautical miles.

The selection follows a $75 million US Air Force award to Boeing for the BSU-111/B Payload Delivery Unit. Kratos has ordered long-lead components ahead of a large Spartan production run planned for 2027, with JDAM LR identified as a key programme in that run.

From dumb bomb to standoff weapon

JDAM began as a GPS/INS guidance kit bolted onto unguided bombs and became the emblem of affordable precision. Adding wings produced JDAM-ER and pushed glide range to roughly 70-80 kilometres. Adding a turbojet changes the category outright: at more than 300 nautical miles, JDAM LR is a standoff weapon that lets the launching aircraft stay outside modern integrated air defence coverage, at a fraction of a full cruise missile’s price.

The BSU-111/B designation is itself informative. Calling the weapon a payload delivery unit rather than a bomb signals a modular intent — the same airframe carrying different warheads or effects.

An old name, a new production problem

The J85 designation is familiar from General Electric’s turbojet in the F-5 and T-38. Kratos’ TDI-J85 is a descendant rescaled for target drones and munitions, and the company says it was designed with the JDAM LR application in mind.

Production runs at a 22,500-square-foot propulsion plant in Auburn Hills, Michigan, which Kratos describes as fully operational and configured for full-rate output.

Steve Fendley, president of Kratos Unmanned Systems, said national security priorities demand affordable mass and resilient domestic supply chains, and that the company’s internally funded supply-chain investments mean it is manufacturing high-volume propulsion today rather than merely preparing for future demand. Joseph Kovasity, senior vice-president of Kratos TDI, called the Auburn Hills facility’s readiness a pivotal transition from engineering development to high-rate tactical manufacturing.

The bottleneck is the point

The significance here is not one munition programme. Small turbojet capacity has become the recognised chokepoint across the US inventory: cruise missiles, one-way attack drones, aerial targets and now powered bombs all compete for the same engine class. Ukraine and the Red Sea demonstrated that expenditure rates far exceed peacetime production assumptions.

That explains both Kratos’ three-phase manufacturing expansion and the Pentagon’s push to grow domestic jet engine capacity. The engine is not a technological leap. The leap is how many can be built per month — and whether that number can be sustained if a shooting war lasts longer than a stockpile.