GBU-72


The Guided Bomb Unit‐72 , also known as the Advanced 5K Penetrator, is a bunker busting bomb developed in the United States.

Description

The GBU-72 is described as a class precision-guided bunker-busting bomb which uses a JDAM guidance kit.
The GBU-72 is said to resemble 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 of earth and more than 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, 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.
In September 2024 it was reported that the Israeli Air Force deployed up to ten GBU-72s on 27 September 2024 to kill Hezbollah's Secretary-General, Hassan Nasrallah, in his underground headquarters complex in Beirut. Subsequent reporting stated class JDAM-equipped BLU-109 bunker-busting bombs were likely used.