aircraft.--Stephen V Cole

Israel's Rafael company has released details of its new SPICE guided bomb kit. SPICE stands for Smart, Precise Impact, Cost-Effective. This is a 2,000 pound Mark-84 fitted with the television seeker and datalink from the AGM-142 Popeye guided bomb. SPICE has four nose control fins, four fixed wings on the tail, and four control fins at the rear. Israel claims that the weapon has a circular error probable of half a meter at a range of 42km when dropped from 12,000 meters (40,000 feet) and that it will cost only 20% as much as the previous versions of the AGM-142. Customers interested in precision-guided bombs are reportedly showing strong interest in SPICE.--Stephen V Cole

December 9, 2000; Israel has issued an $8.2 million contract to Boeing to integrate the Joint Direct Attack Munition (and its GPS guidance technology) onto Israeli Air Force F-16s fitted with the Peace Marble II and Peace Marble III