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Yahoo
6 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
B-2 Bombed A Smiley Face Into The Ground Because It Ran Out Of Targets
A B-2 bomber left a smiley face made out of bomb craters on the 'runway' of a mock airfield during a test some two decades ago. This happened after personnel at the sprawling Utah Test and Training Range (UTTR) had run out of shipping containers to turn into targets that a B-2 would hit during a single attack run. It's a reminder of just how much precision destruction America's upgraded stealth bombers can dole out in one pass. Air Force Maj. Gen. Jason Armagost, who was part of the crew that flew the test mission, mentioned the smiley face during an online talk that the Air & Space Forces Association's Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies hosted yesterday. Armagost, who is now commander of the Eighth Air Force, to which the Air Force's current B-2s, B-1s, and B-52s are all assigned, used the anecdote to highlight the unique capabilities offered by heavy bombers. 'I happened to fly an operational test mission where we tested the carriage of 80 500-pound JDAM [Joint Direct Attack Munition precision guided bombs] and released them all in a span of a little over 20 seconds on an airfield in the UTTR,' Armagost said. 'I mean, that's an amazing sight to behold, such that we even ran out of CONEX boxes to strike, and so [we] drew a smiley face across the runway with JDAMs.' Armagost said that this flight occurred in 2004, but this appears to be in error. The rest of his description aligns completely with a widely publicized test that occurred on September 10, 2003. The specifics of the event are detailed in the video below, which makes no mention of drawing the smiley face. The faux airfield constructed on the UTTR for the September 2003 test was just under a mile long. In addition to two mock runways, one graded and one just a desert strip, it included nine distinct simulated target areas. These were designed to represent an aircraft revetment, a helicopter landing pad, a control tower, a vehicle park, a generic structure, a hangar, an SA-6 surface-to-air missile system site, a fuel storage site, and a Scud ballistic missile launch site. The mock revetment, control tower, generic structure, and hangar were all made using arrays of shipping containers. The B-2 bomber, flying at an altitude of some 40,000 feet, released all 80 JDAMs in a single pass. The GPS-assisted guidance packages in the tail fin sections in each of the bombs were programmed to hit a separate aim point, and all of the impacts occurred within a span of approximately 22 seconds. The JDAM was still a relatively new weapon at the time, and the B-2 used in the test had to be specially modified with new 'smart' bomb racks to be able to drop the bombs. There were also safety concerns about dropping that many bombs from a B-2 in such rapid succession, and 11 other test flights were conducted to gather key data before the final 80-bomb pass on the mock airfield. Today, JDAMs, which consist of one of a number of low-drag bomb bodies combined with a new tail section that contains the guidance system, as well as clamp-on aerodynamic strakes, are among the most widely used air-to-ground munitions in the U.S. military. In addition to 500-pound-class types, there are also 1,000 and 2,000-pound-class versions. The Air Force had certainly demonstrated the B-2's ability to drop large numbers of bombs, in general, before the September 2003 test. The service has continued to show off the B-2's capabilities in this regard in training and testing, as well as real-world operations, since 2003, as well. As mentioned, during yesterday's talk, Maj. Gen. Armagost used the 80 JDAM test to highlight the immense and unique capabilities that heavy bombers offer. The B-2, with its maximum payload capacity of around 60,000 pounds, has especially cavernous bomb bays. It is notably the only aircraft currently certified to operationally employ the 30,000-pound GBU-57/B Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP) bunker buster bomb, the heaviest conventional munition in U.S. service today. It can carry two MOPs in its internal weapons bays. The MOP has now become a household name after the bombs were dropped on real targets for the first time during the Operation Midnight Hammer strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities in June. Armagost's remarks yesterday about the 80 JDAM test came in response to a question about what he would want fellow airmen to better understand about the differences between what fighters and bombers bring to the fight. 'Bombers are an order of magnitude difference [from fighters] in what you can do with them,' he also said. 'Now, they nest incredibly well together, right? We see that with our partners and allies, who … fly fighters as their power projection capability. But when we nest them together with bombers, it is a completely different animal.' The United States is currently alone in the West as an operator of bombers. It is a small club overall, with Russia and China being the only other countries that do so anywhere else globally. 'I'll reflect back to that, that B-2 example of 80 500-pound JDAMs in a matter of a little over 20 seconds, and that was one aircraft,' Armagost said later on in yesterday's talk. 'It's like the example we used to give of World War II attacks requiring massive formations with high numbers of people at risk to get a single target. And then, as we transition through the precision capability, kind of revolution, and then evolution, you get down to single aircraft with single targets. And then the B-2 with multiple targets per aircraft. And, so, most simply, the cost, the strike efficiency, and the cost per kill comes down to: it matters how big your weapons bay is.' Now it also 'matters what access you have bought with the platform or with the weapons, in the case of hypersonics from range, or a penetrating force bringing large numbers inside of denied airspace,' the Eighth Air Force commander added. The ability of a single B-2 to destroy, or at least inflict severe damage, on a large facility like an airfield with pinpoint accuracy on a single pass, even when flying miles from the target, remains a significant capability, although one that is waning with the advent of ever more advanced integrated air defense systems. Regardless, this unprecedented ability is something TWZ has highlighted in the past when talking about the B-2. In line with all of this, Armagost spent much of his time yesterday talking about the critical value he sees coming not just from the size of the planned fleet for forthcoming B-21 Raider bombers, as you can read more about here. The Air Force plans to buy at least 100 B-21s, if not many more. The service currently has just 19 B-2 bombers out of a total of 21 that were ever produced, which imposes significant limits on their operational capacity despite the highly valuable 'silver bullet' capabilities they offer, as was demonstrated during the Midnight hammer strikes. The B-21 is smaller than the B-2, and won't be able to carry as much gross tonnage of ordnance per sortie. Still, the Raider could have an even more impressive 'single pass' strike capability, all while offering enhanced survivability. While 80 JDAMs may not be on the weapons menu, with new smaller standoff munition options like the GBU-39/B Small Diameter Bomb (SDB) or its successor, the GBU-53/B StormBreaker, the B-21 could exceed the quantity of the B-2's bomb load. And it could release those weapons at standoff ranges, eclipsing the B-2's impressive direct attack capabilities. The B-2 is not currently capable of employing the SDB or Stormbreaker. The ability to launch even small but just as accurate drones that can network together to swarm targets with deadly precision could take this capability even another step forward. Regardless of what the future holds, the smiley face anecdote that Maj. Gen. Armagost shared underscores why the Air Force's B-2s will continue to be prized for their unique ability to bring heavy ordnance loads deep into defended and deal massive, highly-efficient destruction in minimal time. Contact the author: joe@
Days of Palestine
04-07-2025
- Politics
- Days of Palestine
The Guardian Reveals Details of Israeli Massacre at Gaza's Al-Baqa Café
DaysofPal — New field evidence obtained by The Guardian has confirmed that the Israeli airstrike on Al-Baqa Café—a family gathering spot on Gaza's seashore—was carried out using a U.S.-made 230-kilogram MK-82 bomb. The attack killed at least 24 civilians, including women and children, and left dozens more seriously wounded. Based on analysis of bomb fragments and the size of the crater, munitions experts have verified that the MK-82, a high-explosive bomb known for its devastating blast radius and shrapnel spread, was used in the densely populated civilian area. Its deployment in such a setting, experts say, constitutes a grave breach of international humanitarian law. A Haven Turned into a Mass Grave The Al-Baqa Café, located along Gaza City's beach, was one of the few public spaces where families could seek a brief escape from war. It featured two floors—an upper open-air terrace and a ground-level area with windows overlooking the sea. Survivors and medical teams confirmed that the café was filled with civilians—children, mothers, students, and artists—at the time of the strike. Among the dead were a 4-year-old child, a well-known film director, a mother in her thirties, and several young students. More than 36 are feared killed, with dozens more injured, including a 12-year-old girl and a teenage boy. No military activity was reported near the area, and it was not within an evacuation zone. Legal Experts: This Is a War Crime Legal experts warn that using such a bomb in a populated area shows clear disregard for civilian lives. 'Targeting a crowded café with a bomb of this magnitude means the attacker knowingly accepted the mass killing of civilians,' said Jerry Simpson of Human Rights Watch. 'That's not just unlawful—it's a war crime.' Dr. Andrew Ford, a legal scholar at Dublin City University, added that even precision-guided munitions like the MK-82 violate the laws of war when used without strict proportionality: 'There's no justification—none—for this level of civilian harm.' Mark Schack, professor of international law in Copenhagen, noted that the MK-82 is usually reserved for hardened military targets: 'If over 30 civilians were killed, the burden of proof is immense. Otherwise, this is an indefensible breach.' Gaza's Collapse—and a Message of Terror The café strike occurred in the context of Gaza's near-total collapse: starvation, medical shortages, power cuts, and daily airstrikes. Al-Baqa Café had remained one of the last spots of semblance and community life. Its destruction sends a clear message: nowhere is safe—not hospitals, not schools, not even places of leisure. Images captured by The Guardian show a large crater, twisted metal, shattered glass, and personal items soaked in blood. Munitions analysts identified debris from a Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) guidance system and thermal batteries—evidence of a guided precision strike. Calls for Accountability Mount The International Justice Center in The Hague has urged for the incident to be added to ongoing investigations into Israeli war crimes. Trevor Paul, a former U.S. munitions expert, emphasized that even precision strikes can be criminal: 'When you know civilians are there and bomb anyway, it's not precision—it's premeditated.' Human rights groups have condemned the strike as another chapter in a broader policy of systematic targeting of civilian infrastructure, a pattern already documented since October 7, 2023. Conclusion: Not an Exception, but a Pattern What happened at Al-Baqa Café is not a tragic error—it is part of an established pattern. In a territory sealed off from the world, where food and aid are denied and movement is strangled, even cafés become execution grounds. This was not 'collateral damage.' It was a calculated strike using a high-yield explosive in a known civilian area, at a known civilian hour. The evidence is overwhelming. The silence of the international community is damning. Until there is justice, Gaza's parks, schools, and cafés will remain targets. And the world will continue watching a slow-motion genocide, bomb by bomb, strike by strike. Shortlink for this post:
India.com
01-07-2025
- Business
- India.com
Meet JDAM weapon which US will give to Israel, deal is worth Rs 43000000000, weapon is capable of…
Meet JDAM weapon which US will give to Israel, deal is worth Rs 43000000000, weapon is capable of… The United States has approved a weapons deal worth USD 510 million to Israel. The deal also includes Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) kits. Lets know more about it. By Joy Pillai Edited by Joy Pillai Advertisement Meet JDAM weapon which US will give to Israel, deal is worth Rs 43000000000, weapon is capable of... In a major defence deal, the United States has showed a green light to a weapon deal worth USD 510 million (approx Rs 4300 crore) to Israel. This deal also included providing Tel Aviv with Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) kits. The deal is confirmed days after Israel-Iran ceasefire announcement. Let's know more about the lethal JDAM weapon and why is this deal so important? What is JDAM weapon? In simple words, Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) is a guidance kit that has the capability to turn the conventional bombs into smart ones that can hit the target with precision. Developed by US's aerospace company Boeing, the JDAM is considered revolutionary in the world of weapons. Advertisement ===
Saba Yemen
01-07-2025
- Business
- Saba Yemen
Pentagon: Washington approves bomb-guiding systems sales to Israel
Washington - Saba: The U.S. Defense Security Cooperation Agency on Monday said the United States has approved a possible $510 million sale of conventional and bunker-buster bomb guidance kits to Israel. The agency explained in a press release: "The State Department has decided to approve a possible Foreign Military Sale to the Government of Israel for munition guidance kits, logistical support, and related equipment for an estimated cost of $510 million." According to the statement, Israel has requested 3,845 guidance kits for BLU-109 2,000-pound bombs and 3,280 kits for MK-82 500-pound bombs. The statement explained that the sale also includes engineering, logistics, and technical support services provided by the U.S. government and its contractors, along with other operational support elements. The statement read: "The United States is committed to Israel's security and considers helping it develop and maintain a strong and ready self-defense capability vital to its national interests," noting that the proposed sale "is consistent with these goals". It added: "This proposed sale will enhance Israel's ability to meet current and future threats by improving its ability to defend its borders, critical infrastructure, and population centers. It will also contribute to enhancing interoperability with U.S. forces and underscores the United States' commitment to Israel's security and the modernization of its armed forces." The statement indicated that Israel will have no difficulty in integrating this equipment into its armed forces, while stressing that the proposed sale "will not upset the basic military balance in the region". According to the Defense Security Cooperation Agency, Boeing, headquartered in St. Charles, Missouri, will be the prime contractor for the sale, with the option to provide a portion of the JDAM guidance kits from U.S. government stockpiles. Whatsapp Telegram Email Print more of (International)
Time of India
01-07-2025
- Business
- Time of India
Trump pushes Netanyahu for Gaza ceasefire deal as US plans $500M arms boost to Israel
Ahead of Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu's US visit, the Trump administration announced on Monday, June 30, 2025, its plans to sell $510 million worth of Joint Direct Attack Munition guidance kits for the Israeli Air Force's air-to-ground bombs. As a part of the deal, the State Department and the Pentagon approved the sale of more than 7,000 JDAM guidance kits designed to be affixed to the Israeli Air Force's unguided BLU-109 2,000-pound bombs and Mk-82 500-pound bombs, according to the news portal Al-Monitor. This comes after Israel requested 3,845 Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) guidance kits for the BLU-109 bomb and 3,280 KMU-572 F/B JDAM guidance kits for the MK 82 bomb, Middle East Eye reported. The arms boost from Washington for Israel comes at a time when the US President is pushing hard for a ceasefire in Gaza and an end to the conflict. He has also recently signaled his interest in achieving another hostage release deal in Gaza. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Villas For Sale in Dubai Might Surprise You Villas In Dubai | Search Ads Get Quote Undo Trump on Sunday, June 29, 2025, posted on his social media platform, Truth Social, urging Netanyahu to 'make the deal in Gaza' in order to secure the return of the remaining hostages. Speaking about the weapons deal, the DSCA said in a statement that Washington is committed to the security of Israel. 'The United States is committed to the security of Israel, and it is vital to U.S. national interests to assist Israel to develop and maintain a strong and ready self-defense capability,' the DSCA said in a statement. Live Events 'The proposed sale will enhance Israel's capability to meet current and future threats by improving its ability to defend Israel's borders, vital infrastructure, and population centers,' the statement further stated. Netanyahu's US visit Trump will host Israeli Netanyahu for talks at the White House next Monday (July 7, 2025), according to two US administration officials. The officials were not authorized to comment publicly on the visit that hasn't been formally announced and spoke on the condition of anonymity. Netanyahu's visit comes after Israeli Minister for Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer's visit to Washington this week for talks with senior administration officials on a Gaza ceasefire, Iran, and other matters. The US President in public comments has signaled he's turning his attention to bringing a close to the fighting between Israel and Hamas, since the ceasefire to end 12 days of fighting between Israel and Iran took hold a week ago. Earlier, Trump told reporters, 'We think within the next week we're going to get a ceasefire' in Gaza but didn't offer any further explanation for his optimism. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt earlier on Monday said Trump and administration officials were in constant communication with Israeli leadership, and bringing about an end to the Gaza conflict is a priority for Trump. 'It's heartbreaking to see the images that have come out from both Israel and Gaza throughout this war, and the president wants to see it end. He wants to save lives," Leavitt added. An eight-week ceasefire was reached as Trump took office earlier in 2025, but Israel resumed the war in March after trying to get Hamas to accept new terms on next steps. Talks between Israel and Hamas have repeatedly faltered over a major sticking point—whether the war should end as part of any ceasefire agreement. About 50 hostages remain captive in Gaza, with less than half believed to be alive.
