It proved capable of penetrating over 50 meters (164 ft) of earth or 5 meters (16 ft) of solid concrete this was demonstrated when a test bomb, bolted to a missile sled, smashed through 22 ft (6.7 m) of reinforced concrete and still retained enough kinetic energy to travel a half-mile downrange. An F-111F of the 431st Test and Evaluation Squadron based at McClellan AFB in California dropped the first GBU-28 at Tonopah on February 24, 1991. The bomb underwent testing at the Tonopah Test Range, Nevada, a test facility for United States Department of Energy funded weapon programs. When the GBU-28 hits the ground, a short-delay time fuze is activated which triggers detonation when it has penetrated deeply enough to completely destroy the target. The operator illuminates a target with a laser designator and the munition guides itself to the spot of laser light reflected from the target. The GBU-28 C/B version uses the 5,000-pound BLU-122 bomb body, which contains AFX-757 explosive in a 4,000-pound (1,800 kg) casing machined from a single piece of ES-1 Eglin steel alloy. They weigh 5,000 pounds (2,268 kg) and contain 630 pounds (286 kg) of Tritonal explosive. The initial batch of GBU-28s was built from modified 8 inch/203 mm artillery barrels (principally from deactivated M110 howitzers), but later examples are purpose-built with the BLU-113 bomb body made by National Forge of Irvine, Pennsylvania. By January 1991, as the Persian Gulf War was well underway, it was determined that the BLU-109/B-equipped laser-guided bombs (LGB) would be unable to penetrate fortified bunkers deep underground. Doubts were raised about the ability of the BLU-109/B to penetrate such fortified structures, so the US Air Force Air Armament Division at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, was asked to create a weapon that could, and engineer Al Weimorts sketched improved BLU-109 variants. Planners noticed that a few command and control bunkers in Baghdad were located deep underground to withstand heavy fire. military began planning an air offensive campaign against Iraq. The Enhanced GBU-28 augments the laser-guidance with inertial navigation and GPS guidance systems. One GBU-28 was dropped during Operation Iraqi Freedom. Only two of the weapons were dropped in Desert Storm, both by F-111Fs. 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. The GBU-28 is a 5,000-pound (2,268 kg) class laser-guided " bunker busting" bomb produced originally by the Watervliet Arsenal, Watervliet, New York.
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