May 26, 2007: Israel has developed a variation on
the U.S. JDAM smart bomb. Their SPICE (Stand-Off Precision Guidance Munition)
is similar to U.S. JDAM kits, that turn dumb bombs into GPS guided smart bombs.
But SPICE adds a camera in the nose, where you can store several digital photos
of the target (a building, radar antennae, or a moving target, like a missile
transporter). When SPICE gets close enough to see what's down there, it's
guidance camera compares what it sees in front of it, with what is stored in
its memory. If it gets a match, it heads right for it. If no target can be
found, SPICE hits a GPS location, or just self destructs. SPICE equipped bombs
can be dropped up to 60 kilometers from the target. SPICE costs about twice as
much as JDAM kits, and is similar to earlier (pre-JDAM), and much more
expensive, U.S. smart bomb designs.
