GBU-72
American GPS/INS guided bunker busting bomb
The Guided Bomb Unit‐72 (GBU‐72), also known as the Advanced 5K (A5K) Penetrator, is a bunker busting bomb developed in the United States.
Description
The GBU-72 is a 5,000 lb (2,300 kg) class precision-guided bunker-busting bomb which uses a JDAM guidance kit.
The GBU-72 resembles an enlarged GBU-31/B JDAM fitted with a bunker-busting BLU-109 or BLU-137/B warhead. It is fitted with the GBU-31/B JDAM’s GPS and INS tail-mounted guidance kit and has long fins on either side of the bomb's underside.
No official data is available for how deep the GBU-72 can penetrate before exploding, although the weapon's program manager has been quoted as saying that its "lethality is expected to be substantially higher compared to similar legacy weapons like the GBU-28". The capabilities of the later versions of the GBU-28 remain classified, but the earliest versions could reportedly penetrate 150 ft (46 m) of earth and more than 15 ft (4.6 m) of reinforced concrete.
The GBU-72 can be dropped by the US Air Force's B-1Bs and F-15Es, and the Israeli Air Force's F-15Is.
History
The evaluation of the GBU-72 at Eglin Air Force Base included ground-based tests such as detonating the bomb’s warhead inside barriers to measure its blast and other effects, and test flights planned by the 780th Test Squadron and carried out by the 40th Flight Test Squadron between July and October 2021 that included confirming "the weapon could safely release from the aircraft and validate a modified 2,000-pound joint-direct-attack-munition tail kit’s ability to control and navigate a 5,000-pound weapon."
The initial testing phase ended on 7 October 2021, when an 96th Test Wing McDonnell Douglas F-15E Strike Eagle released the GBU-72 (known as the GBU-72 Advanced 5K Penetrator) over the Eglin Air Force Base range. The program moved on to more JDAM integration test flights and developmental and operational testing in 2022.
In May 2024 it was reported that as part of joint American-British strikes during the Red Sea crisis, the US Air Force used a GBU-72 to destroy an underground Houthi facility in Yemen.
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