War in the Middle East: what are the Spice bombs, used by Israel in Lebanon and Gaza?

In Beirut, a press conference of the pro-Iranian group Hezbollah is held Tuesday in the south of the city when the Israeli army announces via one of its spokespersons the precise location of an upcoming strike in the nearby neighborhood. of Chiyah, asking its residents to leave the building. A few minutes later, the roar of a bomb is heard, then it crashes on the lower floors of a luxury building of around ten floors.

Five seconds are enough for the building to completely collapse, unlike the neighboring buildings. From the ruins of the targeted building a thick cloud of gray dust escapes, which dozens of pigeons pass through with their wings. Nearby, residents of the neighborhood rush to flee.

According to two experts, the device responsible for the damage is a Spice 2000 guided bomb, a weapon used by Israel in its so-called precision attacks against Hamas and Hezbollah, whether in Gaza or Lebanon. But what really are these guidance kits widely used by the Hebrew State?

Spice, for “intelligent, precise and profitable”

The “Spice” guidance kits – an English acronym for “Smart, Precise, Cost-effective”, produced by the Israeli industrialist Rafael, have been in service since 2003. Attached to bomb bodies of 125 kilograms (Spice 250), 450 kg (Spice 1,000) or 900 kg (Spice 2,000), they allow the bomb to fall less than three meters from its target, according to Rafael.

Since the first large-scale use of this type of ammunition during the Gulf War in 1991, aerial bombing campaigns have relied on the use of these guidance kits attached to the bomb bodies. The pilot of the plane can also release the projectile from a safe distance – up to 125 km depending on the model – thanks to small fold-out fins, which turn them into hovering bombs.

A guidance kit impervious to jamming

As it approaches the target, it compares the image returned to those taken from the objective previously stored in on-board software, before charging towards it. “This makes it both precise and impervious to jamming or deception of the GPS signal,” explains Jeremy Binnie, an arms expert at the British company Janes, for whom the AFP photos on Tuesday show a “Spice 2,000 with its guide kit”. Shaan Shaikh, missile expert from the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), also identified a “Spice 2,000” for AFP.

According to Jeremy Binnie, it is this camera that distinguishes it from the American JDAM guidance kits, which use the satellite signal and their inertial unit to navigate. A new version of the Spice 250, called extended range, allows the bomb to travel “at least 150 km”, according to Janes, thanks to the addition of a propulsion kit at the rear of the bomb to the like the French guided bomb AASM Hammer.

Spice guidance kits have been exported to India, Colombia and South Korea, according to the IISS Military Balance. They have also been produced since 2019 in the United States for American needs following an agreement between the giant Lockheed Martin and Rafael. In the fall of 2023, a few weeks after the start of Israeli operations against Hamas in Gaza following the October 7 attack, the American administration approved the supply to Israel of Spice guidance kits produced in the United States for an amount of 320 million dollars.