Nearly half of the air-to-ground munitions that Israel has used in Gaza in its war with Hamas since October 7 have been unguided, otherwise known as “dumb bombs,” according to a new US intelligence assessment.

  • Rapidcreek@lemmy.world
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    9 months ago

    A US official told CNN that the US believes that the Israeli military is using the dumb bombs in conjunction with a tactic called “dive bombing,” or dropping a bomb while diving steeply in a fighter jet, which the official said makes the bombs more precise because it gets it closer to its target. The official said the US believes that an unguided munition dropped via dive-bombing is similarly precise to a guided munition.

      • Bluerendar@kbin.social
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        9 months ago

        No, no, what you should read is that their use of guided ammo is no more accurate than dive-bombing. That is, either the “guided” munitions aren’t that accurate, or the targeting data used is of that quality.

        • DoomBot5@lemmy.world
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          9 months ago

          At what point do you care if you hit exactly where you aimed at or 1 meter to the left? The bomb explodes on the target either way.

      • Ropianos@feddit.de
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        9 months ago

        Why do you think that? Dive bombing hits generally within a few meters, even during WW2 where it was used against tanks. Why would a guided rocket be that much better? Where would it get the target data from if it doesn’t have a human to guide it?

        Obviously, there exist guided munitions with higher accuracy (<1m) but that’s not the majority.

        • Linkerbaan@lemmy.world
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          9 months ago

          When you gotta hit dozens of metres underground I think you’ll need more than a few metres accuracy error.

      • Apollo@sh.itjust.works
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        9 months ago

        Dive bombers sunk ships (most of them taking evasive action at the time as well) regularly in WW2 using completely dumb bombs.

    • dumpsterlid@lemmy.world
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      9 months ago

      I can’t actually wrap my head around a military official equating dive bombing to precision guided munitions what a bunch of clowns.

      Sure, sending your hulking fighter jet screaming towards the ground and launching a dumb bomb is basically the same as calmly designating a target with a laser from near level flight.

      Why does any of this shit matter in the first place? We aren’t talking about blowing up tank divisions or specific highly advanced military targets, we are talking about an absolutely incredible amount of bombs dropped on insurgent fighters nebulously distributed in a civilian population.

      It is genocide, no other word for it.

  • filister@lemmy.world
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    9 months ago

    But but but what about " we do our utmost to protect the lives of civilians in Gaza"?

    Or we stopped pretending that this is the case?

  • AutoTL;DR@lemmings.worldB
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    9 months ago

    This is the best summary I could come up with:


    Major Keren Hajioff, an Israeli spokesperson, said on Wednesday that “as a military committed to international law and a moral code of conduct, we are devoting vast resources to minimizing harm to the civilians that Hamas has forced into the role of human shields.

    “I’m extremely surprised and concerned,” said Brian Castner, a former Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) officer who now serves as Amnesty International’s senior crisis adviser on arms and military operations.

    It is a massive civilian harm problem if they do not have that accuracy, and if you can’t even give a benefit of the doubt that that the weapon is actually landing where the Israeli forces intended to,” Castner added.

    The type of munitions used in each strike is determined according to the characteristics of the target, the operational need, and the effort to mitigate harm to civilians, which the terrorist organization uses as a human shields,” Dinar said.

    The US has also provided Israel with unguided munitions, including 5,000 Mk82 bombs, a source familiar with recent weapons transfers told CNN, confirming a Wall Street Journal report.

    The US has provided approximately 3,000 JDAMS to Israel since October 7, CNN previously reported, and told Congress last month that it planned to transfer $320 million worth of the Spice Family kits.


    The original article contains 1,084 words, the summary contains 202 words. Saved 81%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!

  • Linkerbaan@lemmy.world
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    9 months ago

    When dropping 2000 pound explosives on refugee camps to “destroy a tunnel 70 metres underground” I’m sure a metre or 5 aiming error won’t matter right guys?