An image shared by the Israeli Defence Force (IDF) of a fighter jet carrying a mysterious precision bomb has set tongues wagging. The photo posted on IAF’s official X shows two unusually marked 2,000-pound GBU-31 series Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) under the wing of an F-16C/D Barak jet.
The jet had conducted a sortie in Iran. "We are flying deep into enemy territory and over its capital city, Tehran, with determination and a profound sense of mission. We will not stop. The aircrews are carrying out their mission far from Israel, at high risk, even as the enemy's air defence array has launched dozens of ground-to-air missiles at them,” the post by Commander of Ramat David Airbase read.
The imagery shows the bomb with never-seen-before marking, a red band around the nose with a red-painted nose plug. There is also a more familiar yellow band, which could indicate that they contain high explosives, according to The War Zone.
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It is the red band that has grabbed eyeballs as they are rarely seen on a JDAM. As per the US standard munition marking, a red band means an incendiary (designed to cause fires) payload. A dark red on a grey panel means the ammunition contains an irritant (riot control) agent, the report added.
According to open source intelligence, the best known of these is the BLU-119/B CrashPAD, which contains white phosphorous.
Developed in 2002, the CrashPAD was designed to attack chemical and biological weapon stockpiles and uses a combined payload of approximately 145 pounds of PBX-109 high explosive and 420 pounds of white phosphorus. On hitting the target, the high-explosive blast-fragmentation warhead penetrates the weapon containers, and the white phosphorus warhead defeats the agents by literally incinerating them, according to The War Zone.
White Phosphorous is a banned chemical that burns at 1,500 degrees Fahrenheit and can cause terrible injuries, and hence its use is a violation of international law.
Israel had earlier also released a photo of a missile with a red stripe, during its war against Gaza. The missile was then spotted on an AH-64D Apache attack helicopter.
