The GBU-27 Paveway III (Guided Bomb Unit) is a

laser-guided bomb A laser-guided bomb (LGB) is a guided bomb that uses semi-active laser guidance to strike a designated target with greater accuracy than an unguided bomb. First developed by the United States during the Vietnam War, laser-guided bombs quickly p ...

with

bunker buster A bunker buster is a type of munition that is designed to penetrate hardened targets or targets buried deep underground, such as military bunkers. Armor piercing shells Germany Röchling shells were bunker-busting artillery shells, developed ...

capabilities, it is a

GBU-24 Paveway III GBU-24 Paveway III or simply GBU-24 is a family of laser-guided bombs, a sub-group of the larger Raytheon Paveway III family of weapons. The Paveway guidance package consists of a seeker package attached to the nose of the weapon, and a wing kit ...

(fitted on the warhead of the

BLU-109 The BLU-109/B is a hardened penetration bomb used by the United States Air Force (BLU is an acronym for Bomb Live Unit). As with other "bunker busters", it is intended to penetrate concrete shelters and other hardened structures before exploding ...

bomb body) that has been redesigned to be used by the

F-117A Nighthawk The Lockheed F-117 Nighthawk is a retired American single-seat, twin-engine stealth attack aircraft developed by Lockheed's secretive Skunk Works division and operated by the United States Air Force (USAF). It was the first operational ai ...

stealth

ground attack In military tactics, close air support (CAS) is defined as air action such as air strikes by fixed or rotary-winged aircraft against hostile targets near friendly forces and require detailed integration of each air mission with fire and movement ...

aircraft. The pilots flying over Iraq during the First Gulf War nicknamed it the "Hammer", for its considerable destructive power and blast radius.

Combat history

The GBU-27 was used in

Operation Desert Storm Operation or Operations may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * ''Operation'' (game), a battery-operated board game that challenges dexterity * Operation (music), a term used in musical set theory * ''Operations'' (magazine), Multi-Ma ...

. It was the weapon used in the February 13, 1991 attack on the Amiriyah shelter, which resulted in the deaths of more than 400 Iraqi civilians. It was also used in a series of strikes on the Muthanna State Enterprise site during February 1991. During the 1999 NATO attack on

FR Yugoslavia Serbia and Montenegro ( sr, Cрбија и Црна Гора, translit=Srbija i Crna Gora) was a country in Southeast Europe located in the Balkans that existed from 1992 to 2006, following the breakup of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yug ...

, two of these bombs were used to destroy the

Avala Tower The Avala Tower ( sr-cyr, Авалски торањ, Avalski toranj) is a tall telecommunications tower located on Mount Avala, in Belgrade, Serbia. The original tower was finished in 1965, but was destroyed on 29 April 1999, during the NATO ...

, a communications mast near Belgrade. During the

2003 invasion of Iraq The 2003 invasion of Iraq was a United States-led invasion of the Republic of Iraq and the first stage of the Iraq War. The invasion phase began on 19 March 2003 (air) and 20 March 2003 (ground) and lasted just over one month, including 26 ...

, the

US Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Sig ...

dropped 98 EGBU-27s on Iraqi targets. The first foreign sale of the GBU-27 was the acquisition by

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

of 500 units equipped with BLU-109 penetrating warheads, authorized in September 2004. Delivery of such precision guided weaponry was accelerated at the request of Israel in July 2006, though the exact munition were not specified.

Israeli Defense Forces Israeli may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the State of Israel * Israelis, citizens or permanent residents of the State of Israel * Modern Hebrew, a language * ''Israeli'' (newspaper), published from 2006 to 2008 * Guni Israeli (b ...

officials state that other precision-guided munitions have been used to attack Hezbollah facilities in the 2006 Lebanon War. However, the bunker busting technology in the GBU-27 could be directed, according to Israeli military sources, at

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

or possibly Syria. As of 2011 the UK's

RAF The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...

have also ordered the GBU-27 for use in

Libya Libya (; ar, ليبيا, Lībiyā), officially the State of Libya ( ar, دولة ليبيا, Dawlat Lībiyā), is a country in the Maghreb region in North Africa. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to the east, Suda ...

.www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-13589783
.

References

;Notes ;Bibliography *Whitney Raas and Austin Long
Osirak Redux? Assessing Israeli Capabilities to Destroy Iranian Nuclear Facilities
MIT Security Studies Program Working Paper, April 2006.

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gbu-27 Paveway Iii Guided bombs of the United States Cold War aerial bombs of the United States Military equipment introduced in the 1990s Raytheon Company products Texas Instruments

Combat history

See also

References

External links