- Yes
- No
Introduction
The IMI 120/15 kg bomb was a rarely seen Israeli license produced variant of the American 260 lbs AN-M81 Fragmentation bomb that was utilized by the Israeli Air Force during the late 60’s. While it is a relatively low yield weapon for its weight class it still presents a missing bomb type from some of the aircraft in the Israeli Air Tree and could help fill out their historical loadout options.
120/15 kg bombs shown during a ground display at Hatzor airbase during late 1968.
History
The history of the IMI 120/15kg bomb isn’t detailed in itself in any available source, It is however easy to tell comparing it to other bomb types around the world that it is a direct development derived from the American 260 lbs AN-M81 fragmentation bomb and its later counterpart, the AN-M88 fragmentation bomb. These American bombs were developed during WW2 and were designed to deliver a more effective fragmentation effect than 500lbs general purpose bombs.
Beginning in the early 50’s Israel’s IMI began producing various air bombs for the Israeli Air Force due to its operational needs, with both American and French types being produced under license. Despite this it is unknown exactly when IMI began production of the 120/15 kg bomb or when the Israeli Air Force first fielded it. It is suggested by at least one source that the bomb was present in Israeli Air Force inventory during the June 1967 Six Day War, however nothing suggests it was actually used and it is extremely unlikely for it to have been used during Operation Focus seeing as fragmentation bombs are not ideal for cratering runways.
120/15 kg bombs loaded on trolleys during an arming exercise of the 105th squadron’s Super Mystère B2 Sambads conducted on the 20th of November 1969.
The first confirmed instance (that I know of) of these bombs being seen in Israeli service was during a ground display in late 1968 at Hatzor airbase (pictured earlier in this post) and I could not find any instance of this bomb type seen past the 1967-1970 War of Attrition, however this bomb type is mentioned in the English Super Mystère B2 Sa’ar manual from 1976 which suggests it could have remained in Israeli service until the Super Mystère B2 Sa’ars were retired from Israeli service in 1976 and potentially served with them in the Honduran Air Force as well, though I could not fully confirm that either. Either way it is exceedingly unlikely these bombs remained in Israeli service at any point past that.
One thing of note in regards to the 120/15 kg bomb is that despite clearly being a fragmentation bomb, as indicated by the sign at it’s 1968 display and at least one source, it appears that the Israeli Air Force actually considered this bomb type as a G.P bomb.
Four 120/15 kg bombs carried by a Super Mystère B2 Sambad using an IMI Multiple Bomb Carrier, nicknamed NAPAM in the IAF which is an acronym for quad bomb carrier
Technical information
As stated before IMI’s 120/15 kg bomb is very clearly a development of the American AN-M81 and AN-M88 fragmentation bombs. These are fragmentation bombs of similar dimensions, construction and effectiveness, only differing in overall weight and the weight of the explosive filling. The AN-M81 was a 260 lbs bomb with about 13% of it’s weight comprised of Comp B explosives, while the AN-M88 was a 220 lbs with about 19% of it’s weight comprised of Comp B explosives. Those of you with sharp eyes will note immediately that this information does not line up with the designation of the IMI produced bomb, indicating a 120kg bomb with 15% explosive filling. The likely explanation is that the IMI produced bomb was constructed in a way that retained the thicker windings of the AN-M81 bomb while enabling an explosive filler capacity close to that of the AN-M88, seeing as mathematically the filling weight of the AN-M88 which is equivalent to about 18.5 kg is also roughly 15% of 120 kg.
An additional photo of the IMI NAPAM Multiple Bomb Carrier which was one of carriage racks for the 120/15kg bombs.
It should also be noted that all of the 120/15 kg bombs in Israeli service appear to have specifically used the M135 fin assembly used for dropping bombs at higher speeds while the AN-M81 and AN-M88 also had access to the AN-M103A1 square fin assembly as an option.
Per the armament manual for the Super Mystère B2 Sa’ar, the 120/15kg bomb was specifically used in carriage on racks using a pair of electro-magnetic ALKAN 500 release units. Seeing as this was the release unit used both by the Super Mystère’s type 502 wing racks and Sa’ar’s wing root racks it could be hung directly on all of them. It is also notably the heaviest bomb type that could be carried by the IMI NAPAM Multiple Bomb Carrier (NAPAM (נפ"ם) standing for נושא פצצות מרובע which literally means quad bomb carrier) which itself uses four pairs of ALKAN 500 release units.
A page from the Super Mystère B2 Sa’ar’s English manual detailing carriage options of various armaments including the 120/15kg bomb of which it can carry a maximum of 18 with the help of multiple bomb carriers.
In terms of specific carriage platforms the only fully confirmed platforms are the Israeli Super Mystère B2s in both the Sambad and Sa’ar variants, with the Sambad being capable of carrying up to 8 of them using one multiple bomb carrier under each wing and the Sa’ar being capable of carrying up to 18 of them using two multiple bomb carriers under each wing plus two bombs carried directly on the wing root pylons. It is also however speculated that the Israeli Air Force Vautours and Mirage IIICJ Shahaks could also use this bomb, the former due to a mention in one source and the capability to use the same multiple bomb carrier as the Super Mystères (which I’ve reported missing here: Community Bug Reporting System) and the later due to it sitting behind these bombs in the 1968 displays, however these unlike the Super Mystères are only speculations.
Specifications
Model: IMI 120/15 kg Air Bomb
Bomb Length: 58 Inches
Body diameter: 8.13 Inches
Fin Span: 11.19 Inches
Filler Type: Composition B
Filler Weight: ~18 kg
Total Bomb Weight: ~120 kg
Carriage platforms: Confirmed: Super Mystère B2 Sambad (up to 8 bombs) and Super Mystère B2 Sa’ar (up to 18 bombs). Speculated: Vautour IIA, Vautour IIN(C), Mirage IIICJ Shahak with unknown quantities.
Sources
- https://bulletpicker.com/pdf/TM-9-1325-200.pdf#page=33
- Amazon.com: Super Mystere and Sa'ar: The Super Mystere and Sa'ar in service with the Israeli Air Force eBook : Weiss, Ra'anan, Feldman, Ron: חנות קינדל
- SMB-2 Aircraft With J-52 Engine Armament Manual (translated June 1976)
- כרעם ביום בהיר - כך הושמדו חילות האויר הערביים במלחמת ששת הימים
