The Indian Air Force on Thursday signed a Rs 300 crore deal for buying more than 100 SPICE bombs from Israel. These SPICE bombs are the same ones which were used by the elite force to attack madrasah of Jaish-e-Mohammed in Balakot of Pakistan on February 26.
The SPICE (Smart, Precise Impact, Cost-Effective) bomb is an Israeli-developed, EO/GPS-guided guidance kit for converting air-droppable unguided bombs into precision-guided bombs. The air-to-surface missile is a product of Israeli company Rafael Advanced Defense Systems and is in operation since 2003 in Israeli Air Force F-16 squadrons.
Briefing more about the deal, a top government source said, as quoted by ANI, “A contract for procuring over 100 SPICE bombs with Mark 84 warheads was signed with Israel u der emergency provisions as per which the deliveries would be done in three months time.”
SPICE 2000 bombs have a total of 12 control surfaces in 3 groups (fore, mid-body and tail) and have very long glide range, of about 60 kilometres. The IAF’s Mirage 2000 jets had fired several 1,000 kgs of “SPICE 2000” bombs on Jaish-e-Mohammed’s terrorist training camp in Balakot on February 26, 2019.
This latest development is India’s addition to the move of strengthening the Defence department of the country and secure its international borders from foreign threats. Also, the remarkable decision comes hours after Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh reviewed defence acquisition issues with top officials on Thursday. Close sources say that he directed them to seek indigenous solutions to meet the forces’ requirements to the extent possible.
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