Special to WorldTribune.com

TEL AVIV — Israel has reported the enhancement of  bunker-busters
for its Air Force, without U.S. assistance.

The state-owned Israel Military Industries has upgraded the capabilities
of its MPR-500 missiles. IMI said the missile, deployed on the F-15 and
F-16 combat aircraft, could be used to penetrate bunkers.

“This is a precision-guided weapon that would ensure that targets are destroyed during a first strike,” an official said.

IMI has been developing bunker-busters as part of an Israeli program to end its reliance on U.S. and other foreign munitions. MPR-500 was designed to be installed in the U.S.-origin Paveway air-to-ground attack kit.

The Air Force has been equipped with U.S.-origin bunker-busters. But
over the last five years, Israel has been repeatedly denied requests for
advanced U.S. munitions that could destroy underground Iranian facilities.

Officials said MPR-500, which weighs 250 kilograms, contains a circle error of probability of as little as two meters. They said this would enable the destruction of Iranian or other enemy nuclear and non-conventional weapons facilities without repeated bombings.

IMI said the new bunker-buster could penetrate four double-reinforced
concrete walls or floors with a thickness of 200 mm each. The company
released a video in which MPR also penetrated a one-meter double-reinforced
concrete wall.

The Israeli web site Ynet reported that IMI and the Israel Air Force
tested the missile recently. Ynet said MPR was said to have proven its
capability to “easily penetrate bunkers and deeply hidden underground weapon
caches.”

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