Sunday, October 15, 2023

Hamas Militants Brace for Israel's Buster Bunker Bombs

 By Mortz C. Ortigoza

 The difference of the ground war between the Israel Defense Force (IDF) versus the terror group’s Hamas to the U.S and Philippines war against Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in the six weeks second siege of Fallujah, Iraq (November-December 2004) and the five-month Marawi City, Philippines (May – October 2017) battle, those with the IDF would be complicated by the more than two thousand concrete tunnels constructed by Hamas since 2007.

They used the tunnels as smuggling of goods and arms. Known as the Gaza Metro, they snake under a coastal land that is only 41 kilometers (25 miles) and 10 kilometers wide.


The tunnels are part of this militarily weak Muslim group’s asymmetrical war to neutralize the firepower of a superior enemies who used tanks and jets to win.

In the Fallujah and Marawi, the Americans led by the U.S Marines and the Filipino soldiers surreptitiously crawled and trudged on the land mines and improvised explosive device (IED) planted by the enemies on their pathways, guerillas hiding in the ceilings, rooms and other parts of the houses they occupied and the rat tunnels where they evade and shift position from one building to another edifice.

In the Second Fallujah War, the Americans move slickly - that outwit those radical Sunni militants and their battle scarred Chechen and Syrian ISIL fighters – the use of C-4 explosives and the 105 mm M68 cannons of the Abram tanks that destroy to smithereens the building where the enemies (high on narcotics (just like the Mautes in the battle in Marawi) have been ensconced. After the destruction of the building, the armored D9 bulldozers leveled the rubbles to neutralize the mines and the still breathing ISIS fighters.

                                                        GAZA WAR IS DIFFERENT

The Gaza siege would be different to the urban battles we saw on Hue, Vietnam (January 31, 1968 – March 2, 1968), Second Chechen –Russian War (August 1999 to April 2009), Battle of Kyiv (February 25 to April 2, 2022) (where Ukraine soldiers hitting with anti-tank ground missile (ATGM) like the U.S made Javelin the vulnerable Russian tanks that were not even protected by infantrymen), Fallujah and Marawi City’s battles.


Hamas Tunnel: Photo credit: Time

The enemies in Gaza would be shifting their positions by moving with ease under the various height and width concrete mazes of tunnels out of the sight of the Israelis.

The ground war in Gaza that could be happening anytime from now would show how the laser guided bunker buster - munition that is designed to penetrate hardened targets or targets buried deep underground - will enable the IDF to efficiently fight the house to house skirmishes in one of the world’s densely populated area. Gaza has people live in just 365 square kilometres (sq km) which is 5,500 people per sqkm compared to Israel's 400 people per sqkm.

Although the Palestinians there -  with 2,670 Palestinians dead and 9,600 wounded (AP) as I wrote this article – could have already absconded the city and take shelter in the northern part of the Strip.

                                                               GBU-28

The Bunker Buster is launched through an aircraft like the Israeili's airforce F-15 jet.

The GBU-28, according to Wikipedia, is a 5,000-pound (2,268 kg) class laser-guided "bunker busting" bomb produced originally by the Watervliet Arsenal, Watervliet, New York. It was designed, manufactured, and deployed in less than three weeks due to an urgent need during Operation Desert Storm to penetrate hardened Iraqi command centers located deep underground. Only two of the weapons were dropped in the Desert Storm by F-111F jet. One GBU-28 was dropped during Operation Iraqi Freedom. It was priced in 2021 at  $145,000 or Philippines P8, 237, 450. The Enhanced GBU-28 augments the laser-guidance with inertial navigation and GPS guidance systems.

                                        IDF USES BUNKER BUSTER SINCE 2007

The burrowing bomb has been used by the IDF to the militants since 2007.

After the air and ground bombardment of Gaza City in the past days by the Israelis, we saw at CNN, Fox TV, Al Jazeera and other televisions how a tall building just crash to the ground shrouded with giant dust without a spark of explosion. Bunker buster could hit the rooftop and continues to spiral below the ground thus destroying the foundation of the edifice. The bombardment of the IDF did not only confine to buildings but to the areas – like hospitals and schools –  where Hamas fighters holed in in those tunnels beneath them.

 If the U.S have yielded to the pressure of the IDF for the past years to use the GBU-72, we combat spectators would be treated how innovation on this lethal weapon could prevent the number of dead among the Israeli soldiers.

                                                                    GBU-72

GBU-72 a mammoth, 5,000-pound bomb designed using advanced modeling to increase its impact in reaching and destroying hardened underground the likes of North Korea’s ballistic-missile and nuclear-weapons facilities or Iran’s military grade uranium facilities.

It is the most advanced bunker buster, according to Al Jazeera, and is able to penetrate 30m (100ft) of earth or 6m (20ft) of concrete and obliterate anything nearby and causing a shockwave that is likely to trigger cave-ins of subterranean structures farther away than the intended target.

GBU-72 is priced at U.S $288, 000 or P16, 361, 280 each.

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MORTZ C. ORTIGOZA

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I am a twenty years seasoned Op-Ed Political Writer in various newspapers and Blogger exposing government corruptions, public officials idiocy and hypocrisies, and analyzing local and international issues. I have a master’s degree in Public Administration and professional government eligibility. I taught for a decade Political Science and Economics in universities in Metro Manila and cities of Urdaneta, Pangasinan and Dagupan. Follow me on Twitter @totoMortz or email me at totomortz@yahoo.com.

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