JDAMs: The Air Force's Favorite "Dumb" Weapon

The Israeli Air Force has been making significant use of a type of "dumb" smart bomb developed during the First Gulf War known as a Joint Direct Attack Munition or JDAM. A brief explainer.

Calcalist's resident aerospace expert, Nitzan "The Captain" Sadan, provided a succinct explainer on the Israeli Air Force's favorite weapon for use in the Gaza War: the Joint Direct Attack Munition or JDAM.

According to Sadan, this bomb, a GPS-guided munition, was developed during the First Gulf War to operate precisely in any weather conditions, thus bypassing a common problem whereby guided munitions failed to function during winter or cloud conditions.

The JDAM, which zeroes in on a specific GPS-designated point with incredible precision, has only become more so over the years, and the Israeli Air Force has managed to tweak its accuracy even further. This helps to precisely hit terrorists and minimize civilian casualties, as can be seen by the low civilian-per-strike ratio even by the standards of the questionable Hamas government numbers (over 22,000 strikes, fewer than one dead per strike).

The JDAM does have two drawbacks. It cannot strike moving targets or change targets mid-flight, but the Air Force can strike those with other weapons. The JDAM could also conceivably be somewhat diverted with GPS jammers, but this would harm the enemy, too, and it could also be destroyed.

In sum, far from being a dumb bomb, this munition helps to kill terrorists and save civilian lives in a brutal war.