The "Spice" munition is more advanced than most EO-guided bombs, since it combines the advantages of satellite guidance and those of electro-optical guidance into one bomb – reducing the amount of munitions that an aircraft has to carry for a given strike mission, increasing its combat radius and maneuverability. This multiple guidance methods selectability is especially important in an "information warfare" battlefield, where an aircraft might approach a surface target while it is, for example, masked with smoke or moving around. Another advantage of the "Spice" is its ability to be fed, preflight, with up to 100 different targets it may have to engage. The one target it will actually engage may then be selected, inflight, by an aircrewman. Since it has a total of 12 control surfaces in 3 groups, the "Spice" has a very long glide range, of about 60 kilometers. This allows a striking aircraft to release a bomb at a target without entering the threat envelope of most short- and medium-range air defense systems which might protect it. This is achieved while saving the higher costs associated with propelled munitions.
Spice 1000. An add-on kit for 450 kg warheads such as the MK-83, MPR1000, BLU-110, RAP-1000 and others. The weapon has deployable wings similar to the JSOW and the SDB that substantially increase its range to 100 km and facilitate the integration to light fighter aircraft.
Spice 2000. An add-on kit for 900 kg warheads such as the MK-84, BLU-109, RAP-2000 and others.
Spice 250. A glide bomb designed as a complete system rather than an add-on kit, with a stand-off range of.
Operation
On the ground, an unguided bomb is fitted with a "Spice" guidance kit. Still on the ground, each bomb's memory may be loaded with up to 100 different targets, complete with their image and geographical coordinates. The bomb is then loaded on a strike aircraft. In the pylon to which the bomb is attached there is a datalink between the aircraft's cockpit and the bomb. As the aircraft flies in the air and approaches a target, either the weapon systems officer or pilot can use the TV\IIR display in the cockpit to see the image the bomb sends to him. Once he selected one of the preprogrammed targets, or fed the bomb with a target himself, the bomb is ready for release into a guided trajectory. Once the bomb is released, it begins searching its target in order to acquire it and home on it. This can be done in several ways: First, there is pure CCD or IIRimage matching, when the guidance section uses algorithms in order to match the target image in its memory with the image provided by the seeker, and align the center of the seeker's FOV with the desired image. Second, if the CCD\IIR seeker can not acquire its target for any reason, the bomb can automatically switch to GPS\INS guidance. This means that the bomb aspires to bring itself to the target's altitude at a known geographical location. The bomb receives data on its current location from GPS satellites, or from an inertial navigation system in the bomb itself, that has been fed, through the pylon datalink, with the dropping aircraft's coordinates a fraction of a second before drop, and can therefore calculate its own coordinates from the dropping time and on. Third, there is a manual "man-in-the-loop" guidance option, in which the WSO looks at a backseat TV display in order to see the seeker's view and uses the backseat stick to control the bomb all the way to the target. With a skilled WSO that has a "sensitive hand", this guidance method is probably the most accurate one employed today for air-dropped munitions, and has no measurable miss distance. Its main drawback is that it allows for only one bomb to be guided at a time.
Use in combat
On February 26, 2019, Indian Air Force Mirage 2000 jets fired several 1,000 kg of "SPICE 2000" bombs into "terrorist training camp" in Pakistan. However, Pakistan refutes the claim. Pakistan's military informantion wing, ISPR, says that IAF jets dropped their "payload" inside Pakistani territory and left in haste. No loss of life or property was reported on ground. The Pakistan military also took media personnel to the Madrassa where India claimed to have dropped the bombs. The building and its surroundings were completely intact. However the media interaction took place months after the strike leading to doubts that the structure had been hastily rebuilt. The Pakistani army has earlier cordoned off the entire area for months, not even allowing local media personnel.
Disadvantages
The main disadvantage of the "Spice" ammunition is its high cost relative to GPS-guided munitions. Although many air-to-ground scenarios may indeed require the EO guidance option, many others do not, and can be completed successfully while using just GPS guidance kits such as the Joint Direct Attack Munition, at a fraction of the cost of the "Spice".
Comparable systems
The Israeli "Spice" is comparable to the American LJDAM, which also combines EO and GPS guidance and can be fitted to a variety of warheads.
