IAF looking to buy upgraded bombs used in Balakot strike

New Delhi: The Indian Air Force (IAF) is looking to buy upgraded version of the Spice-2000 bombs, which were used to target Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) camp at the Balakot in Pakistan.

These advance version of the Spice-2000 bombs is capable of completely destroying buildings and bunkers.

The current Spice 2000 bomb which was used by the IAF in Balakot first penetrates the building and then bursts, killing “soft skins” through its impact. However, these in most cases do not destroy the buildings.

The new upgrade the IAF wants is bunker buster or the building destroyer that can decimate targeted buildings. IAF could acquire the new bombs  through the emergency powers granted to the three services for buying any equipment of their choice worth up to '300 crore for emergency situations. Israel made  precision-guided glide bomb Spice (Smart, Precise Impact, Cost-Effective) were used during the Balakot strike because of the precision with which it hits the targets avoiding collateral damages. The advantage of SPICE bomb is that while it uses GPS co-ordinates to hit targets, it can operate even if enemy has deployed GPS jammers. If GPS jammers are used than, it uses  unique scene-matching algorithms navigation guidance to hit targets which match the images which were fed into it.

India had retaliated to the Pulwama bombing of February 14 by launching  a pre-dawn airstrike through Mirage 2000 jets hitting the biggest training camp of JeM at Balakot in Pakistan. This was the first time since the 1971 war that IAF fighters crossed the LoC, something they did not do even during the Kargil conflict of 1999.