The "SPICE" ("Smart, Precise Impact, Cost-Effective") is an
Israeli
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 ...
-developed,
EO/
GPS
The Global Positioning System (GPS), originally Navstar GPS, is a Radionavigation-satellite service, satellite-based radionavigation system owned by the United States government and operated by the United States Space Force. It is one of t ...
- guidance kit used for converting air-droppable unguided
bomb
A bomb is an explosive weapon that uses the Exothermic process, exothermic reaction of an explosive material to provide an extremely sudden and violent release of energy. Detonations inflict damage principally through ground- and atmosphere-t ...
s into
precision guided bombs.
The featured guidance system is a derivative of the respective system used in the
"Popeye" (AGM-142 Have Nap) air-to-surface missile. The "Spice" family of guided bombs are a product of an Israeli company
Rafael Advanced Defense Systems
Rafael Advanced Defense Systems Ltd. ( he, רפאל - מערכות לחימה מתקדמות בע"מ, formerly Rafael Armament Development Authority), ("Rafael" from Hebrew acronym of "Authority for the Development of Armaments" - ) is an Israel ...
. It achieved initial operational capability during 2003, in
Israeli Air Force
The Israeli Air Force (IAF; he, זְרוֹעַ הָאֲוִיר וְהֶחָלָל, Zroa HaAvir VeHahalal, tl, "Air and Space Arm", commonly known as , ''Kheil HaAvir'', "Air Corps") operates as the aerial warfare branch of the Israel Defense ...
F-16
The General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon is a single-engine Multirole combat aircraft, multirole fighter aircraft originally developed by General Dynamics for the United States Air Force (USAF). Designed as an air superiority day fighter, it ...
squadrons.
Introduction
The "Spice" guided bomb features technology not typically seen in most
EO-guided bombs, such as the
GBU-15
The Rockwell International Guided Bomb Unit 15 is an unpowered glide weapon used to destroy high-value enemy targets. It was designed for use with F-15E Strike Eagle, F-111 'Aardvark' and F-4 Phantom II aircraft. The GBU-15 has long-range maritime ...
. It combines the advantages of
satellite guidance
A guided bomb (also known as a smart bomb, guided bomb unit, or GBU) is a precision-guided munition designed to achieve a smaller circular error probable (CEP).
The creation of precision-guided munitions resulted in the retroactive renaming o ...
(allowing it to engage camouflaged and hidden targets; to provide a "drop-and-forget" option for several such targets simultaneously, and to operate in all weather and lighting conditions), and those of
electro-optical guidance
Missile guidance refers to a variety of methods of guiding a missile or a guided bomb to its intended target. The missile's target accuracy is a critical factor for its effectiveness. Guidance systems improve missile accuracy by improving its P ...
(such as the ability to provide "
man-in-the-loop
Command guidance is a type of missile guidance in which a ground station or aircraft relay signals to a guided missile via radio control or through a wire connecting the missile to the launcher and tell the missile where to steer to intercept it ...
" guidance for higher precision; the ability to engage relocatable targets; lower
CEP than that of
satellite-guided munitions; and independence from external information sources like satellites) into one bomb – reducing the number of munitions (and hence, payload) that an aircraft has to carry for a given strike mission, increasing its combat radius and maneuverability.
This multiple guidance methods selectability is especially useful in an "
information warfare
Information warfare (IW) (as different from cyber warfare that attacks computers, software, and command control systems) is a concept involving the battlespace use and management of information and communication technology (ICT) in pursuit of a ...
" battlefield, where an aircraft might approach a surface target while it is, for example, masked with smoke (in which case satellite guidance would be required) or moving around (in which case
electro-optical guidance
Missile guidance refers to a variety of methods of guiding a missile or a guided bomb to its intended target. The missile's target accuracy is a critical factor for its effectiveness. Guidance systems improve missile accuracy by improving its P ...
would be required).
The "Spice" kit can be fitted with up to 100 targets pre-flight that can be accessed and selected in-flight.
Since it has a total of 12
control surfaces in 3 groups (fore, mid-body and tail), the "Spice" has a very long glide range (about 60 kilometers.) This allows a
striking aircraft to release a bomb at a target without entering the threat envelope of most short- and medium-range
air defense system
Anti-aircraft warfare, counter-air or air defence forces is the battlespace response to aerial warfare, defined by NATO as "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action".AAP-6 It includes surface based, ...
s which might protect it. This is achieved while saving the higher costs associated with propelled
munitions
Ammunition (informally ammo) is the material fired, scattered, dropped, or detonated from any weapon or weapon system. Ammunition is both expendable weapons (e.g., bombs, missiles, grenades, land mines) and the component parts of other weap ...
.
Operational history
On February 26, 2019, the
Indian Air Force
The Indian Air Force (IAF) is the air arm of the Indian Armed Forces. Its complement of personnel and aircraft assets ranks third amongst the air forces of the world. Its primary mission is to secure Indian airspace and to conduct aerial w ...
claims that its
Mirage 2000
The Dassault Mirage 2000 is a French multirole, single-engine, fourth-generation jet fighter manufactured by Dassault Aviation. It was designed in the late 1970s as a lightweight fighter to replace the Mirage III for the French Air Force (''Arm ...
s targeted an alleged "militant training camp" near the town of
Balakot
Balakot (; ur, ; ) is a town in Mansehra District in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. The town was destroyed during the 2005 Kashmir earthquake, but was later rebuilt with the assistance of the Government of Pakistan and Saudi P ...
in
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (; ps, خېبر پښتونخوا; Urdu, Hindko: خیبر پختونخوا) commonly abbreviated as KP or KPK, is one of the Administrative units of Pakistan, four provinces of Pakistan. Located in the Geography of Pakistan, ...
province in
Pakistan
Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...
using SPICE 2000 munitions. This claim by the Indian government was not confirmed by the international sources.
During the
2021 Israel–Palestine crisis
A major outbreak of violence in the ongoing Israeli–Palestinian conflict commenced on 10 May 2021, though disturbances took place earlier, and continued until a ceasefire came into effect on 21 May. It was marked by protests and police riot ...
, the
Israeli Air Force
The Israeli Air Force (IAF; he, זְרוֹעַ הָאֲוִיר וְהֶחָלָל, Zroa HaAvir VeHahalal, tl, "Air and Space Arm", commonly known as , ''Kheil HaAvir'', "Air Corps") operates as the aerial warfare branch of the Israel Defense ...
used Spice bombs against Al-Sharouk Tower in
Gaza. The attack destroyed two residential buildings, killing 6
Palestinian
Palestinians ( ar, الفلسطينيون, ; he, פָלַסְטִינִים, ) or Palestinian people ( ar, الشعب الفلسطيني, label=none, ), also referred to as Palestinian Arabs ( ar, الفلسطينيين العرب, label=non ...
civilians and one
Syrian
Syrians ( ar, سُورِيُّون, ''Sūriyyīn'') are an Eastern Mediterranean ethnic group indigenous to the Levant. They share common Levantine Semitic roots. The cultural and linguistic heritage of the Syrian people is a blend of both indi ...
.
Operation
An unguided bomb fitted with a Spice kit can contain up to 100 images of its potential targets.
The bomb is then loaded on a
strike aircraft
An attack aircraft, strike aircraft, or attack bomber is a tactical military aircraft that has a primary role of carrying out airstrikes with greater precision than bombers, and is prepared to encounter strong low-level air defenses while pr ...
. In the pylon to which the bomb is attached, there is a data link between the aircraft's cockpit and the bomb.
As the aircraft flies in the air and approaches a target, either the weapon systems officer (WSO – the backseater in such aircraft as the
F-15E Strike Eagle
The McDonnell Douglas (now Boeing) F-15E Strike Eagle is an American all-weather multirole strike fighter derived from the McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle. The F-15E was designed in the 1980s for long-range, high-speed interdiction without rely ...
or
F-16I Sufa
A large number of variants of the General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon have been produced by General Dynamics, Lockheed Martin, and various licensed manufacturers. The details of the F-16 variants, along with major modification programs and der ...
) or pilot (in single-seat aircraft) can use the TV/IIR display in the cockpit to see the image the bomb sends to him. Once he has selected one of the preprogrammed targets or fed the bomb with a target himself (by feeding it with either an image or
geographical coordinates
The geographic coordinate system (GCS) is a spherical or ellipsoidal coordinate system for measuring and communicating positions directly on the Earth as latitude and longitude. It is the simplest, oldest and most widely used of the various ...
to home on), the bomb is ready for release into a guided
trajectory
A trajectory or flight path is the path that an object with mass in motion follows through space as a function of time. In classical mechanics, a trajectory is defined by Hamiltonian mechanics via canonical coordinates; hence, a complete traj ...
.
Once the bomb is released, it begins searching for its target to acquire it and home in on it. This can be done in several ways:
First, there is pure CCD or
IIR (for low lighting conditions) image matching, when the guidance section uses algorithms to match the target image in its memory with the image provided by the seeker, and align the center of the seeker's
FOV with the desired image (a guidance method known as
DSMAC
Terrain contour matching, or TERCOM, is a navigation system used primarily by cruise missiles. It uses a pre-recorded contour map of the terrain that is compared with measurements made during flight by an on-board radar altimeter. A TERCOM system ...
).
Second, if the CCD\IIR seeker can not acquire its target for any reason (such as visual obstructions), the bomb can automatically switch to GPS\INS guidance. This means that the bomb aspires to bring itself to the target's altitude at a known geographical location. The bomb receives data on its ''current'' location from GPS satellites, or from an
inertial navigation system
An inertial navigation system (INS) is a navigation device that uses motion sensors (accelerometers), rotation sensors ( gyroscopes) and a computer to continuously calculate by dead reckoning the position, the orientation, and the velocity (dire ...
in the bomb itself, that has been fed, through the pylon
datalink
A data link is the means of connecting one location to another for the purpose of transmitting and receiving digital information (data communication). It can also refer to a set of electronics assemblies, consisting of a transmitter and a recei ...
, with the dropping aircraft's coordinates a fraction of a second before the drop, and can therefore calculate its coordinates from the dropping time and on.
Third, there is a manual "man-in-the-loop" guidance option, in which the WSO looks at a backseat TV display to see the seeker's view (sent to him through a
RF command guidance
Command guidance is a type of missile guidance in which a ground station or aircraft relay signals to a guided missile via radio control or through a wire connecting the missile to the launcher and tell the missile where to steer to intercept its ...
datalink) and uses the backseat stick to control the bomb to the target. With a skilled WSO that has a "sensitive hand", this guidance method is potentially the most accurate one employed today for air-dropped munitions and has no measurable miss distance. Its main drawback is that it allows for only one bomb to be guided at a time.
Variants
* Spice 1000. An add-on kit for 450 kg (1000 lb)
warheads such as the MK-83, MPR1000, BLU-110, RAP-1000 and others. The weapon has deployable wings similar to the
JSOW
The AGM-154 Joint Standoff Weapon (JSOW) is a glide bomb that resulted from a joint venture between the United States Navy and Air Force to deploy a standardized medium range precision guided weapon, especially for engagement of defended targets ...
and the
SDB that substantially increase its range to 100 km and facilitate the integration to light fighter aircraft.
* Spice 2000. An add-on kit for 900 kg (2000 lb) warheads such as the MK-84, BLU-109, RAP-2000 and others. This bombs were used by
IAF's Mirage-2000 at
Balakot
Balakot (; ur, ; ) is a town in Mansehra District in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. The town was destroyed during the 2005 Kashmir earthquake, but was later rebuilt with the assistance of the Government of Pakistan and Saudi P ...
in
Pakistan
Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...
.
* Spice 250. A glide bomb designed as a complete system rather than an add-on kit, with a stand-off range of .
* Spice 250 ER. This new variant incorporates a micro-turbojet engine with an internal JP-8/10 fuel tank to deliver over the range of .
Rafael Unveils Turbojet-powered Spice Weapon
''Aviation International News''. 4 February 2021.
Operators
*
*
*
*
*
Specifications
* Warhead
A warhead is the forward section of a device that contains the explosive agent or toxic (biological, chemical, or nuclear) material that is delivered by a missile, rocket, torpedo, or bomb.
Classification
Types of warheads include:
* Explosiv ...
: Mk. 83 (453 kg) or Mk. 84 (907 kg)
* CEP: 3 meters
* Guidance
Guidance may refer to:
Arts and media
* ''Guidance'' (album), by American instrumental rock band Russian Circles
* ''Guidance'' (film), a Canadian comedy film released in 2014
* ''Guidance'' (web series), a 2015–2017 American web series
* "G ...
type: CCD\infrared homing
Infrared homing is a passive weapon guidance system which uses the infrared (IR) light emission from a target to track and follow it seamlessly. Missiles which use infrared seeking are often referred to as "heat-seekers" since infrared is radi ...
with GPS
The Global Positioning System (GPS), originally Navstar GPS, is a Radionavigation-satellite service, satellite-based radionavigation system owned by the United States government and operated by the United States Space Force. It is one of t ...
\INS INS or Ins or ''variant'', may refer to:
Places
* Ins, Switzerland, a municipality
* Creech Air Force Base (IATA airport code INS)
* Indonesia, ITF and UNDP code INS
Biology
*'' Ins'', a New World genus of bee flies
* INS, the gene for the insul ...
* Carrying-capable aircraft: F-15
The McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle is an American twin-engine, all-weather tactical fighter aircraft designed by McDonnell Douglas (now part of Boeing). Following reviews of proposals, the United States Air Force selected McDonnell Douglas's ...
, F-16
The General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon is a single-engine Multirole combat aircraft, multirole fighter aircraft originally developed by General Dynamics for the United States Air Force (USAF). Designed as an air superiority day fighter, it ...
, Mirage 2000
The Dassault Mirage 2000 is a French multirole, single-engine, fourth-generation jet fighter manufactured by Dassault Aviation. It was designed in the late 1970s as a lightweight fighter to replace the Mirage III for the French Air Force (''Arm ...
, Tornado
A tornado is a violently rotating column of air that is in contact with both the surface of the Earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus cloud. It is often referred to as a twister, whirlwind or cyclone, altho ...
, FA-50
The KAI T-50 Golden Eagle (골든이글) is a family of South Korean supersonic advanced jet trainers and light combat aircraft, developed by Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) with Lockheed Martin. The T-50 is South Korea's first indigenous su ...
See also
* Joint Direct Attack Munition
The Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) is a guidance kit that converts unguided bombs, or "dumb bombs", into all-weather precision-guided munitions. JDAM-equipped bombs are guided by an integrated inertial guidance system coupled to a Global Pos ...
(JDAM)
* Small Diameter Bomb
The GBU-39/B Small Diameter Bomb (SDB) is a precision-guided glide bomb that is intended to provide aircraft with the ability to carry a higher number of more accurate bombs. Most US Air Force aircraft will be able to carry (using the BRU-61/A r ...
* MLGB
MLGB (Medium-weight Laser Guided Bomb) is a precision guided glide bomb that can attack both fixed and moving targets. It was developed by Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI). The relatively light warhead is optimized for such missions where minim ...
* MSOV MSOV (Modular Stand-Off Vehicle) is a modular stand-off glide bomb with a range of up to 100km (55nm), manufactured by Israel Military Industries (IMI). Length is 3.97m long and has a wingspan of 2.7m.The weight of the vehicle, including the a 675k ...
* H-4 SOW
The H-4 SOW (Stand-Off Weapon) is a precision-guided glide bomb manufactured by NESCOM and deployed by the Pakistan Air Force, capable of striking targets at stand-off range. It has a terminal guidance system based on an infrared homing seeker, ...
* GBU-53/B
The GBU-53/B StormBreaker, previously known as the Small Diameter Bomb II, is an American air-launched, precision-guided glide bomb.
Development was started in 2006 for a class bomb that can identify and strike mobile targets from standoff dista ...
* AGM-154 Joint Standoff Weapon
The AGM-154 Joint Standoff Weapon (JSOW) is a glide bomb that resulted from a joint venture between the United States United States Navy, Navy and United States Air Force, Air Force to deploy a standardized medium range precision guided weapon, ...
* AASM AASM may refer to:
* Armement Air-Sol Modulaire, a French precision guided munition
* Australian Active Service Medal
* American Academy of Sleep Medicine, a professional organization
* The Anglo-American School of Moscow
The Anglo-American Sch ...
* HGK
* KGGB
The KGGB (Korean GPS Guided Bomb) is an air-to-ground glide-guided weapon system, attached to MK-82 conventional general-purpose bomb. The KGGB is capable of striking targets from long-distances and features fire-and-forget capability. It was dev ...
* FT PGB
FT PGB is an abbreviation for a family of Chinese built precision guided munitions named To-Fly Precision Guided Bomb (Fei-Teng Jing-Que Zhi-Dao Zha-Dan, 飞腾精确制导炸弹), developed by China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology (CALT), a ...
* LS PGB
LS is an abbreviation for a family of Chinese built precision-guided munitions (PGM) named Thunder Stone Precision Guided Bomb (, Léi-shí Jīngquè Zhì-dǎo Zhàdàn) developed by Luoyang Electro-Optics Technology Development Centre (EOTDC) ...
* LT PGB
LT PGB is an abbreviation for a family of Chinese built precision guided munitions named Fury Precision-guided munition (Lei-Ting Jing-Que Zhi-Dao Zha-Dan, 雷霆精确制导炸弹) developed bLuoyang Electro-Optics Technology Development Centre ( ...
* Umbani
References
External links
"Spice" brochure on Rafael website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Spice (Munition)
Rafael Advanced Defense Systems
Aerial bombs of Israel
Guided bombs of Israel
Military equipment introduced in the 2000s
Fire-and-forget weapons