IAF gets equipment for 'killing machines'
The IAF has taken delivery on 1,000 small diameter bombs (SDB's) from the United States. The bombs, which weigh about 250 pounds each, and have about 50 pounds of explosives, are as powerful as a bomb containing 900 kilograms (nearly a ton) of explosives. Israel is the first country outside of the United States to receive the weapon.Hmmm.
The IAF has named the new bomb “Sharp Hail.” The total cost of the deal was $77 million.
The GPS-guided SDB is said to be one of the most accurate bombs in the world. It has the same penetration capabilities as a normal 900-kg. bomb, although it has only 22.7 kg. of explosives. At just 1.75 meters long, its small size increases the number of bombs an aircraft can carry and the number of targets it can attack in a sortie.
Tests conducted in the US have proven that the bomb can penetrate at least 90 cm. of steel-reinforced concrete.
The GBU-39 can be used in adverse weather and has a standoff range of more than 110 km. due to its pop-out wings.
This enables aircraft to attack more targets per sortie, since each weapon’s station can carry four bombs.
The first planes to have the GBU-39 are the IAF’s F- 15Is – which can carry around 20 of the bombs on its wings and fuselage, turning the aircraft into what defense officials termed a “killing machine.”
Labels: GBU-39, GPS-guided, IAF, Sharp Hail, small diameter bombs
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 2:26 PM
2 Comments:
It is really important that Israel maintains a qualitative edge in weaponry in light of the massive US arms sale to Saudi Arabia (detailed here http://www.jcpa.org/JCPA/Templates/ShowPage.asp?DRIT=1&DBID=1&LNGID=1&TMID=111&FID=376&PID=0&IID=5177&TTL=Arms_for_the_King_and_His_Family:_The_U.S._Arms_Sale_to_Saudi_Arabia)
And of course the real reason the US built the SDB's was not as much to carry more bombs, but to tone down the payload and shrapnel generated, so they could go after smaller targets, more accurately, and with less collateral damage.
The SDB is all about hitting a smaller target, and doing the minimal damage to accomplish the job.
Not quite 'killing machines'. More like better surgical strikers.
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