Israel is using a state-of-the-art “bunker buster” smart bomb, just purchased from the United States, to destroy rocket launchers and arms smugglers’ tunnels in the Gaza Strip.
Shipments of 1,000 of the highprecision GBU-39 missiles began
arriving in Israel this month, after their sale was approved by Congress in September.
The missile is described as a battlefield wonder because it is
relatively cheap, small and light – but packs the punch of the much bigger, less accurate bombs that Israel used as recently as the 2006 war against Hezbollah in southern Lebanon.
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The GBU-39, developed in part by a Boeing subsidiary, reportedly
penetrated at least 35 inches of steel-reinforced concrete in US
tests.
It was used successfully on Sunday to attack 40 of the tunnels
under the Gaza-Egypt border that have been used by smugglers for months to resupply Hamas and other terrorists with weapons, the Jerusalem Post reported.
The GBU-39 is less than 6 feet long and weighs about 250 pounds
but packs the punch of a 1-ton bomb, experts said.