Griffin LGB

The Griffin Laser Guided Bomb (Griffin LGB) is a laser-guided bomb system made by Israel Aerospace Industries' MBT missiles division. It is an add-on kit which is used to retrofit existing Mark 82, Mark 83, and Mark 84 and other "dumb" gravity bombs, making them into laser-guided smart bombs (with the option of GPS guidance).[1] Initial development completed in 1990.[1]

The Griffin conversion kit consists of a front "seeker" section and a set of steerable tailplanes. The resulting guided munition features "trajectory shaping", which allows the bomb to fall along a variety of trajectories – from a shallow angle to a vertical top attack profile. IAI claims this gives the weapon a circular error probable of 5 metres.[2]

IAI (which is owned by the Government of Israel) has sold Griffin to the Israeli Defense Forces,[3] the Colombian Air Force,[4] and the Indian Air Force;[5] the system may also have been trialled by the South African Air Force.[1] The IDF used Griffins in 1988 to attack Palestinian targets in southern Lebanon[3] and against Hezbollah in 1996 during Operation Grapes of Wrath.[3]

Bombs using the kit have been used on A-4, F-4E, F-15, F-16, Kfir, Super Tucano, Jaguar, and Atlas Cheetah D aircraft.[1]

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 "Griffin laser-guided bomb (LGB) system (Israel), Bombs – Precision and guided munitions". Jane's Air-Launched Weapons, Jane's Information Group. July 31, 2012. Retrieved 20 February 2013.
  2. ↑ "Laser-Guided Bomb Kits". Israel Aerospace Industries. Retrieved 20 February 2013.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Shlomo Aloni (10 November 2009). Israeli A-4 Skyhawk Units in Combat. Osprey Publishing. ISBN 1-84603-430-2. Retrieved 20 February 2013.
  4. ↑ "Latin America : Special Report". Flight International. 20 March 2012. Retrieved 19 February 2013.
  5. ↑ Arie Egozi (July 11, 2008). "Israel to supply India with Griffin 3 bomb guidance kits". Flight International. Retrieved 20 February 2013.

External links