Exclusive: Nearly half of the Israeli munitions dropped on Gaza are imprecise ‘dumb bombs,’ US intelligence assessment finds | CNN Politics
www.cnn.com
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.

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.worldEnglish
    124·
    11 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
        42·
        11 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.worldEnglish
          12·
          11 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.

      • Apollo@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
        13·
        11 months ago

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

      • Ropianos@feddit.deEnglish
        13·
        11 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.worldEnglish
          13·
          11 months ago

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

    • dumpsterlid@lemmy.worldEnglish
      61·
      11 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.