Spice 1000 Guided Glide Bombs Were Used In Overnight Israeli Attack On Syria
ILA Berlin Air Show 2012; Rafael’s Spice 1000 guided weapon, 15 September 2012, By Bin im Garten. Via Wikimedia.
Israel has reportedly used Spice 1000 guided glide bombs in the September 17 aerial attack on the Syrian capital, Damascus.
Several fighter jets of the Israeli Air Force (IAF) launched the glide bombs from the direction of Lake Tiberias in northern Israel, targeting Damascus International Airport and other positions to the south of the capital.
At least one of the bombs was successfully intercepted by Syrian air defenses as confirmed by a photo that surfaced on the internet a few hours after the attack.
The attack on Damascus claimed the lives of five service members of the Syrian Arab Army, all of them were reportedly air defense operators. However, the airport remained operational.
The SPICE [Smart, Precise Impact, Cost-Effective] is an Israeli-developed, EO/GPS-guided guidance kit for converting air-droppable unguided bombs into precision guided bombs. The Spice 1000 is a variant for warheads weighting 450 kg such as the MK-83, MPR1000, BLU-110 and RAP-1000. It has a maximum range of 100 kilometers.
The long range of the bomb and its fairly heavy warhead made it the weapon of choice for the IAF when attacking hard targets in Syria.
The IAF uses complex tactics that relies on advanced fighter jets, stand-off munitions, decoys and electronic warfare means when attacking Syria in order to overcome the threat posed by the country’s dense air defense network. In several recent attacks, Israeli jets had to fire at Syrian air defense systems before being able to attack their targets. Still, many munitions were successfully intercepted.
It’s worth noting that many of Israel’s recent attacks on Syria targeted the airports of Damascus and Aleppo. The attacks were reportedly meant to disturb Iranian weapons shipments meant for Hezbollah in Lebanon.
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