Name: How Spice Kits Upgrade ‘Dumb’ Bombs Into Precision-Guided Munitions
Uploaded: 2024-02-27T05:00:00Z
Duration: 5 min 16 s
Description: The U.S. is sending Israel $320 million in Spice guidance kits—which transform unguided bombs. WSJ explains how they work and looks at their potential to limit civilian casualties in Gaza. Illustration: Mia Hariz

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The U.S. is sending Israel $320 million in Spice guidance kits—which transform unguided bombs. WSJ explains how they work and looks at their potential to limit civilian casualties in Gaza. Illustration: Mia Hariz

https://m.wsj.net/video/20240223/bc532907-f022-4446-84ef-3cf0b921821e/1/hls/manifest-hd-wifi.m3u8

How Spice Kits Upgrade ‘Dumb’ Bombs Into Precision-Guided Munitions

Narrator: The United States is sending $320 million worth of these weapon attachments to Israel. They're SPICE guidance kits, which attach to general-purpose bombs, commonly known as dumb bombs, turning them into precise guided munitions. Weapons manufacturer Rafael USA will transfer the equipment to its Israeli parent company, Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, for use by the Israeli Defense Ministry. The transfer comes amid continued concerns of civilian casualties in Gaza where Israel has been targeting Hamas. The goal of guidance kits like SPICE and JDAMS, which the US has previously sent, is to enhance accuracy while minimizing non-combatant casualties. But some experts say the large munitions, while more precise than dumb bombs, could still pose a serious risk to civilians. So will these modified smart bombs help reduce collateral damage in Israel's war in Gaza? SPICE stands for Smart, Precision, Impact, Cost-Effective, and the kits are made up of two main components.

At the front end, you have the guidance component and a target acquisition camera.

And then you've got a bunch of these control surfaces, basically fins that extend the range.

Narrator: The electro-optical seeker, or camera, uses a scene matching algorithm to recognize and guide the weapon to a target based on a preloaded image.

The image that the camera is seeing is compared to the image that it's looking for, and as it comes onto the target, it's doing that comparison. And if it doesn't see it, it corrects itself until it brings the image of the desired target into view.

Narrator: The control unit utilizes the fins to steer the bomb toward the target until it's in view of the EOIR seeker. Hundreds of images can be loaded pre-flight into a SPICE guidance package. The images can be accessed and a particular target can be selected by the operator in flight, and it has the ability to engage slow moving targets. The bomb combines the benefits of this electro-optical guidance with those of satellite guidance in one platform.

It is also equipped with GPS and INS, or inertial navigation system, which basically those are used to determine the location of the munition in relation to its target.

Narrator: These munitions can operate in adverse weather and visibility conditions like fog and darkness, and in GPS-denied zones. Ultimately, these kits can convert 1,000 pound or 2,000 pound class general-purpose warheads into precision standoff strike weapons with ranges of 120 kilometers and 60 kilometers respectively, and they can be deployed from farther away than unguided weapons.

They can stand off as much as a hundred... a hundred kilometers, so it's safer for the pilots and the aircraft.

Narrator: Dumb bombs account for almost half of Israel's air-to-ground munitions in Gaza, but the IDF has been employing dive bombing tactics, dropping these munitions closer to the ground for increased precision. The kit's attached to the front and backsides of a number of unguided bombs that Israel already has, like the MK84. And while the exact price of SPICE kits is unknown, some experts say SPICE-guided munitions are cost-effective because they could allow Israel to use fewer bombs more effectively.

If you hit what you intend with one bomb, you're not dropping a dozen of them trying to do the same thing, so there's gonna be less munitions expended or employed, and they're going to be more accurate.

Narrator: But in such a densely populated environment like Gaza, some experts still have concerns about the potential outcomes of their use.

Any time you are trying... you're doing military operations in a densely populated urban area, it's very, very difficult to avoid not having collateral damage and not having great impacts on the civilian population

Regardless of guidance, if you drop a 2,000 pound bomb on a area packed with civilians on an area packed with critical infrastructure, you're gonna have a blast somewhere of 10 football fields. You're gonna have fragments and just pieces of debris going out, hundreds, if not over a thousand, feet.

Narrator: While the IDF did not respond to our request for comment, Israeli officials have said in the past that their intention is not to harm civilians.

Our war is against Hamas, not against the people of Gaza. We use many measures to try and minimize the civilian harm and suffering. We choose the right munition for each target so it doesn't cause unnecessary damage.

Narrator: A senior researcher at INSS, an Israeli think tank that focuses on national security, says the size and use of the munitions are carefully calculated by experts.

On the whole, it's probably better that they have more precision munitions than less.

Narrator: But precision-guided munitions aren't enough to ensure an accurate strike. Things like intelligence gathering, targeting policy, and operator proficiency are all essential to making sure the right target is hit. The US is currently investigating several Israeli airstrikes in Gaza to assess civilian casualties and potential misuse of weaponry.

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