#Israel bunker buster missile series

The service announced on 12 October that it had dropped the 5,000 lb weapon (the 5K in its moniker) on several occasions during a series of tests from late July through to early October. The French military, which inducted the munition in 2008, has used it over Afghanistan, Libya, and Mali. The US Air Force (USAF) has performed the first test drops of its new Boeing Guided Bomb Unit (GBU)-72 Advanced 5K (A5K) Penetrator, releasing the ‘bunker buster' bomb from a Boeing F-15E Strike Eagle. The weapon’s modular structure allows for the addition of navigational guidance options such as inertial navigation/Global Positioning System, infrared homing, or laser guidance.įrance’s Dassault Rafale aircraft can carry six Hammers. The munition comes in missile and gliding bomb versions with a weight range of 125, 250, 500, and 1,000 kilograms (275, 551, 1,102, and 2,205 pounds). The missile’s acquisition is particularly significant in the midst of a border standoff between the Indian and the Chinese armies across the Ladakh border, where the terrain is mountainous, providing ample cover for troops. The outlet added that the missile will enable the Tejas to destroy bunkers or hardened shelters from a standoff range of 70 kilometers (43.5 miles). The country currently operates two LCA squadrons (18 aircraft), and 73 more upgraded Tejas will be inducted over this decade. French HAMMERs The 1,000kg model of the HAMMER was tested with a Rafale at the Cazaux flight test center in southwest France, which is run by the French defense procurement agency in December 2020. The Indian Air Force has ordered an unspecified number of French air-to-ground Hammer missiles that will be outfitted on the country’s indigenous LCA Tejas fighter, Asian News International revealed, citing government sources. Israel has also expressed its intent to buy these new missiles as it has been using the old GBU-28 bunker-buster bombs.