the US is using 5,000lb (2270kg) bunker busters<\/a> is further evidence that Iran keeps many of its weapons buried deep underground.<\/p>\nUS Central Command (Centcom) did not specify which penetrators it used against what it called hardened Iranian missile sites along Iran\u2019s coastline near the Strait of Hormuz.<\/p>\n
But there are two known variants that fit the criteria: the GBU (Guided Bomb Unit)-28 laser-guided bomb and the newer GBU-72 Advanced 5K Penetrator. The latter is the one more likely to have been deployed.<\/p>\n
First tested in 2021, the bomb is a large Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) free-fall precision munition guided to target by satellites and Inertial Navigation System.<\/p>\n
![\"FILE](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/feb0ce1a-0894-4fb3-8a41-6aa785eb84e4.jpg.webp.webp\")
Image source, USAF<\/p>\n
At the time of testing, the US Air Force (USAF) said the GBU-72 was “developed to overcome hardened deeply buried target challenges and designed for both fighter and bomber aircraft”.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe weapon design and its projected effectiveness were developed using advanced modeling and simulation techniques and processes before the first warhead was forged,\u201d it added.<\/p>\n
Despite its large size, the GBU-72 can be carried by F-15E Strike Eagles, giving military planners greater flexibility in deployment by not relying on B1-Bs, for example, that operate out of RAF Fairford in England.<\/p>\n
Both the US and Israel have pounded Iran\u2019s missile and drone infrastructure, but Tehran\u2019s weapons still pose a significant threat.<\/p>\n
Yesterday, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said it had targeted Tel Aviv in Israel with Khorramshahr 4 and Qadr missiles – both of which carry multiple warheads – in a statement read on state TV. Footage on social media strongly suggests cluster munitions are being used by Iran.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Use of bunker busters a sign Iran keeping weapons deep undergroundpublished at 08:23 GMT 08:23 GMT Chris PartridgeWeapons…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":345272,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-345271","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/345271","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=345271"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/345271\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/345272"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=345271"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=345271"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=345271"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"FILE](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/b5726557-7c26-4cad-87fd-cf99173005b4.jpg.webp.webp\")
Image source, USAFImage caption, <\/p>\n