GBU-27 Paveway III
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| GBU-27 Paveway III | |
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| Primary function: | 2,000 pound (900 kg) unpowered, hard target laser guided weapon |
| Length: | 13 ft 10 in (4.2 m) |
| Diameter: | 2 ft 4 in (711 mm) |
| Wingspan: | 5 ft 5 in (1.65 m) |
| Range: | More than 10 nautical miles (19 km) |
The GBU-27 Paveway III (Guided Bomb Unit) is a laser-guided bomb with bunker buster capabilities. It is a GBU-24 Paveway III that has been redesigned to be used by the F-117A Nighthawk stealth ground attack aircraft.
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[edit] Combat history
The GBU-27 was used in Operation Desert Storm. 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, which the U.S. military identified as the heart of the Iraqi chemical weapons production infrastructure.[1]
It was also used in the Iraq War. The opening strike on Al-Dura Farm, southeast of Baghdad was carried out on March 20, 2003, using the GBU-27 and Tomahawk cruise missiles. While the target was believed to be a high-value Iraqi official, perhaps Saddam Hussein, the "decapitation strike" resulted in the deaths of fifteen civilians, including nine women and one child.[2]
The first foreign sale of the GBU-27 was the acquisition by Israel of 500 units equipped with BLU-109 penetrating warheads, authorized in September 2004. (Raas and Long 2006) Delivery of such precision guided weaponry was accelerated at the request of Israel in July 2006, though the exact munition were not specified. Israeli military officials state that other precision-guided munitions have been used in its to attack Hezbollah facilities in the 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict.[3] However, the bunker busting technology in the GBU-27 could be directed, according Israeli military sources, at Iran or possibly Syria.[4]
[edit] Notes
- ^ William Winkenwerder, Jr., MD, Special Assistant to the Under Secretary of Defense, "The Gulf War Air Campaign - Possible Chemical Warfare Agent Release at Al Muthanna, February 8, 1991", November 15, 2001.
- ^ Eugene Jarecki, Why We Fight; Sarah Leah Whitson, Presentation of Aerial Attacks on Regime Leaders, World Tribunal on Iraq, 2004.
- ^ NY Times
- ^ Anton La Guardia - Israel challenges Iran's nuclear ambitions, September 22, 2004
[edit] References
- Whitney Raas and Austin Long, Osirak Redux? Assessing Israeli Capabilities to Destroy Iranian Nuclear Facilities, MIT Security Studies Program Working Paper, April 2006.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
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