IAF to arm Sukhoi Su-30s with Spice-2000 bombs used to destroy JeM camps in Balakot air strike

Indian Air Force is reportedly running trials to mount and fire Spice-2000 smart bombs from Sukhoi Su-30MKI fighter jets. As of now, Mirage 2000 jets are the only aircraft in the Indian Air Force fleet that are compatible with these Israeli smart bombs. The Su-30 jets are the primary fighters of the service and accompanied the Mirage 2000 jets during the air strike on Jaish-e-Mohammed locations in the Balakot, Pakistan.

India had acquired 200 units of Spice-2000 smart bombs from Israel a few years ago. Reports suggest that initial trials have already been carried out with Sukhoi Su-30s targeting ground targets using these bombs.

"We have successfully carried out trials of the Spice-2000 bombs on the Su-30 aircraft and the successful integration would mean that a large fleet of the Indian Air Force would be able to drop these munitions," top Air Force sources told India Today.

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The Spice bombs are precision guided bombs fitted with a GPS guidance kit for accurately launching air droppable unguided bombs. The IAF reportedly dropped six of them on terrorist training camps run by Jaish-e-Mohammed near Balakot town in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in Pakistan.

Once the Spice-2000 smart bombs are integrated with the Sukhoi Su-30 jets, it will be a major upgrade for the Indian Air Force as a major part of its fleet will be able to launch these smart bombs. The IAF dropped these bombs during its air strike against Jaish-e-Mohammed training grounds on Pakistan soil last week to contain the damage to its intended target, the terror camps.

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Based on intelligence input, Indian Air Force had scrambled Mirage 2000 jets, armed with Spice-2000 smart bombs, last week to launch non-military attacks on terrorist training camps run by Jaish in Balakot. The jets had dropped their payload targeting crucial sections of these camps, keeping the damage contained within the intended radius.