The Indian Air Force has inked a deal with an Israeli defense firm to restock its arsenal with an advanced version of a bunker-buster bomb it had used in an airstrike against an alleged terrorist hideout in Pakistan in February.
New Delhi will purchase 100 more SPICE-2000 bombs for an estimated $43.2 million. SPICE stands for “smart, precise-impact and cost-effective” and is manufactured by the Israeli defense technology company Rafael. The munitions are expected to be delivered to the Indian Air Force (IAF) within the next three months.
Designed to destroy bunkers and other buildings, the bombs are an advanced version of the munitions deployed when the IAF attacked the suspected terrorist compound in Balakot, Pakistan, earlier this year. Islamabad responded with strikes of its own the next day, eventually downing an Indian F-16 after a brief dogfight.
The high-tech SPICE bomb has a range of 60 km and uses real-time data to adjust its flight path according to changing factors.
Since February’s brief clash, India and Pakistan have traded hostile rhetoric, with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi accusing Pakistan in April of allowing terrorists to attack India, and threatening to hit Pakistan with“the mother of all nuclear bombs.”
That comment prompted Pakistan military spokesman Major General Asif Ghafoor to warn India against testing his country’s “resolve.”
India’s Air Force hasn’t always been so lucky to possess cutting-edge technology. Last month, Modi was widely mocked after suggesting that the IAF may have used clouds to evade Pakistani radar during February’s air raid.
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