USA - GBU-10/B Paveway I/II

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GBU-10/B Paveway I
In 1965 (approximately at the same time was also a failed attack USAF in north vietnam bridge Thanh Hoa) met a group of officers in the u.s. air force with engineers, ground troops and jointly discussed the new program of the army, which counted with the guidance of the artillery with a laser. Members of the air force this concept intrigued, and so began to consider the use of laser guidance aviation ordnance. Armament Development and Test Center acting on the Eglinově air base in the year 1965 from the producers received two projects. The first offer from North American were rejected because of their complexity. The u.s. air force, on the contrary intrigued by the proposal from the company Texas Instruments, which counted with the use of the existing pum M117 air force, which would have been provided with a front guidance section and in the back of the steering parts. About half a year after that, aircraft of the air force dropped the first prototypes of the new guided bombs known as the BOLT-117. Their achievements in the tests eventually led to the rapid development of modification kits, which would be of the standard "dumb bombs" series Mk.80 made "smart". The so formed puma GBU-10/B. Its basis became the high explosive squash head-a twitchy bomb Mk.84 caliber 2000 lb supplemented with the kit, KMU-351/B, consisting of the guidance of parts of the MAU-157/B and the tail group MXU-600/B. In the spring of 1968 was the american air force ready to use the new cougar BOLT-117 GBU-10/B on the vietnamese battlefield. The first serious (and unsuccessful) use has been made 23. may 1968 in Laos. New pumas during combat tests used 8. tactical fighter wing (8th TFW) stationed at the thai base in Ubonu and výzbrojené aircraft F-4 Phantom II. This department was trying to verify the combat usability of the pum of the BOLT-117 GBU-10/B, and so with them trying to attack any spot targets that he could find - trucks, beginning and small bridges ending. From a statistical point of view the achievements of the pum too impressive not. Dazzled, however, the fact that more than half of the bombs achieved direct intervention, which at that time was for the pilots from the 8th TFW something incredible. The test phase was completed in August 1968, with the finding that pumas are operationally effective.

The result was the launch of serial production of bombs GBU-10/B and their delivery to the 8th TFW for combat use in the Vietnam war. 8. tactical fighter wing was initially the only service of the USAF in southeast Asia, which used controlled blasting ammo. With american air ofenzívami in 1972, however, the number of departments using GBU-10/B spread. The north vietnamese objective was to the end of hostilities brought a total of 3 917 these bombs. For the guiding of bombs GBU-10/B targets were used feed the AN/AVQ-9 "Zot Box" and then mainly shooting containers AN/AVQ-10 Pave Knife. Probably the most famous stroke with the use of bombs GBU-10/B was the bombing of the hanojského bridge Paul Doumera of 10. may 1972. Pumas were also used in combat the iranian air force during Iraqi-iranian war in the eighties (their carrier planes were F-4D bearing feed "Zot Box").




GBU-10/B Paveway II
After the success of the bomb generation of Paveway And it was decided to continue in their further development, which has created a number of Paveway II. She was fitted with a new guidance parts, which was easier and thus cheaper. The original fixed tail section bombs were exchanged for the variable, which made it possible to increase the reach of bombs and thanks to the more compact dimensions improve their transportability and the possibility of podvěšení under the aircraft. Testing of prototypes in guidance part of a series of Paveway were launched in 1974. Their serial production was launched in 1977. In the case of bombs GBU-10/B was based on again the puma Mk.84 (later, for the cougars BLU-109 or BLU-117) with the guidance of parts of the MAU-169/B and the tail section MXU-651/B. GBU-10/B Paveway II were first operationally deployed during operation El Dorado Canyon in the spring of 1986. To their massive use occurred mainly during the operation Desert Storm..

Paveway I



Paveway II



Sources
1) Team: Weapons File 2003-2004, Eglin, 2003
2) Andreas Parsch: Paveway I (last update 11.5. 2006)
3) Andreas Parsch: Paveway II (last updated 29.10. 2004).

The number of bombs GBU-10/B Paveway II dropped during the operation Desert storm.


Sources
1) Team of authors: Operation Desert Storm - Evaluation of the Air Campaign, Washington DC, 1997.

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"Aardvark" zachycený 14. dubna 1986 na letišti Lakenheath během posledních příprav na operaci El Dorado Canyon. Pod křídly má podvěšenu čtveřici laserem naváděných pum GBU-10C/B. Letoun na snímku je pravděpodobně sériového čísla 70-2383, který během operace nesl volací znak Jewel 62 a jehož cílem byl výcvikový tábor Murat Sídí Bilál. Tento letoun tehdy sloužil u 492nd Tactical Fighter Squadron.

Source : www.af.mil