It was designed, manufactured, and deployed in less than three weeks due to an urgent need during Operation Desert Storm to penetrate hardened Iraqi command centers located deep underground. Only two of the weapons were dropped in Desert Storm, both by FFs. In August , the U. Planners noticed that a few command and control bunkers in Baghdad were located deep underground to withstand heavy fire. The initial batch of GBUs was built from modified 8-inch mm artillery barrels principally from deactivated M howitzers , but later examples are purpose-built [ 8 ] with the BLU bomb body made by National Forge of Irvine, Pennsylvania.
The operator illuminates a target with a laser designator and the munition guides itself to the spot of laser light reflected from the target. When the GBU hits the ground, a short-delay time fuze is activated which triggers detonation when it has penetrated deeply enough to completely destroy the target. The second GBU was a direct hit and penetrated the thick reinforced concrete before detonating, killing everyone inside. The first foreign sale of the GBU was the acquisition of units by Israel, authorized in April Delivery was described as "upcoming" in a cable dated November which suggested that the weapon could be used against Iran's nuclear facilities.
The bombs were to be delivered between and Under the settlement, Kaman Corp. Israel raised concerns, it had also received GBU bombs fuzed to prematurely detonate before penetration or at other times.
In development since , the GBU is expected to cause significantly more damage against hardened, buried targets and is fitted with a more durable and efficient smart electronic fuse that can activate at a preprogrammed location. Contents move to sidebar hide.
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