CENTCOM says a number of 5,000 lb GBU-72/B Superior 5K Penetrator munitions had been used on hardened Iranian missile websites alongside Iran’s shoreline close to the Strait of Hormuz.
It seems that the U.S. has employed for the primary time in fight the brand new GBU-72/B Superior 5K Penetrator munition, the 5,000 lb bunker buster weapon designed to exchange the GBU-28 which has been used since 1991. The U.S. Central Command says that “a number of 5,000-pound deep penetrator munitions” had been used on Mar. 17 “on hardened Iranian missile websites alongside Iran’s shoreline close to the Strait of Hormuz.”
Hours in the past, U.S. forces efficiently employed a number of 5,000-pound deep penetrator munitions on hardened Iranian missile websites alongside Iran’s shoreline close to the Strait of Hormuz. The Iranian anti-ship cruise missiles in these websites posed a danger to worldwide transport within the… pic.twitter.com/hgCSFH0cqO
— U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) March 17, 2026
These hardened missile websites had been mentioned to host anti-ship cruise missiles, which posed a menace to transport within the Strait. Officers later confirmed to CNN’s Pentagon correspondent Haley Britzky that the weapon was certainly the GBU-72.
US official confirms this was the GBU-72 Superior 5K Penetrator
The AF put out a launch in 2021 on the GBU-72 marking the primary time the bomb was launched, at Eglin AFB
— Haley Britzky (@halbritz) March 18, 2026
The weapon now joins the line-up of penetrating munitions which have already been extensively utilized in Iran because of the excessive variety of fortified targets. Amongst these are the GBU-31(V)3 Joint Direct Assault Munition (JDAM), the bunker-buster variant of the two,000 lb weapon based mostly on the BLU-109/B; the AGM-158 Joint Air-to-Floor Standoff Missiles (JASSM); and the ship-launched RGM-109 Tomahawk Land Assault Missile (TLAM).
What we all know in regards to the strike
CENTCOM didn’t launch particulars in regards to the strike mission and the plane employed. The one element supplied, along with the weapon, is the approximate timing, “hours in the past,” with the assertion revealed at roughly 11 pm UTC.
The U.S. Air Pressure has beforehand talked about that solely two plane varieties have been cleared to this point to make use of the GBU-72/B: the B-1B Lancer bomber and the F-15E Strike Eagle fighter jet. The weapon was first examined on the Strike Eagle in 2021, whereas the primary images of the testing with the BONE’s (from “B-One”, because the plane is unofficially nicknamed) exterior pylons emerged in 2024.
It’s price noting that there isn’t a publicly out there info relating to the standing of the testing with the B-1B and the inner carriage of the weapon. Notably, “privateness screens” have been lately positioned on RAF Fairford’s fences, the place a big a part of the B-1B fleet is deployed, to cease spotters from capturing operations and particularly weapons’ loading.
On Mar. 17, two B-1B missions had been recorded from Fairford, with two bombers every. Whereas one mission proceeded to focus on, the opposite needed to abort resulting from unspecified points.
Out there flight monitoring information on adsbexchange present that the 2 B-1Bs tracked on Mar. 17 had been flying over the ocean between Cyprus and Israel at roughly 1:30 pm UTC on their strategy to Iran and 10:20 pm UTC on their manner again to the UK. The timing could possibly be in line with CENTCOM’s assertion.
Bomber Mission XXI & XXII – A Day of Points #FreeIran— Operation EPIC FURY —
Yesterday (seventeenth March 2026) the US bomber fleet at RAF Fairford (EGVA) tried to launch 2 bombing missions to Iran, each to fly by way of the Atlantic and Gibraltar, being supported by tankers from… pic.twitter.com/vpCd8Uec5d
— DefenceGeek 🇬🇧 (@DefenceGeek) March 18, 2026
The opposite licensed platform, the F-15E, may have launched from a lot nearer places, as a number of Strike Eagles are deployed in CENTCOM’s Space of Accountability. That might additionally make a lot more durable for the open supply intelligence (OSINT) neighborhood to trace them and the weapons they carried.
An element which could have probably influenced the selection of the platform for the strikes is the payload functionality. The F-15E is probably going restricted to carrying just one GBU-72/B on the centerline with out having to resign to the exterior gas tanks, equally to the GBU-28, whereas unconfirmed stories point out the B-1B can carry as much as 12 GBU-72s.
GBU-72/B Superior 5K Penetrator
The GBU-72 Superior 5K Penetrator is a 5,000-pound bunker-buster bomb examined for the primary time in 2021. The take a look at targets had been to point out the weapon may safely launch from the plane and validate a modified 2,000-pound joint-direct-attack-munition tail equipment’s means to manage and navigate a 5,000-pound weapon.
The GBU-72 was created to handle the challenges of concentrating on deeply buried hardened buildings and is appropriate for each fighter jets and bombers. The Air Pressure says its design and anticipated efficiency had been developed utilizing superior modeling and simulation strategies earlier than the primary warhead was ever produced.
This methodology might be utilized to all future direct assault weapons. In accordance with James Culliton, the GBU-72 Program Supervisor, the lethality is predicted to be considerably larger than that of older weapons just like the GBU-28.
Airmen from the 57th Munitions Squadron and 57th Weapons practice to construct and cargo the GBU-72 bomb.
This guided bomb unit is a 5,000 lb penetrator that makes use of GPS-guided techniques to precisely hit targets. pic.twitter.com/oIRD9yPatW
— Division of Conflict 🇺🇸 (@DeptofWar) September 2, 2023
On the time of the take a look at, Culliton highlighted that a bonus of utilizing modeling and simulation within the design course of is that early prototypes carefully resemble the ultimate manufacturing fashions. “This strategy permits us to contain our operational take a look at companions earlier, enabling hands-on participation that validates our design and procedures sooner and incorporates suggestions to enhance the weapon. The collaboration with the 780th TS and fortieth FLTS has been the perfect I’ve skilled in acquisitions,” he mentioned.
The GBU-72 was first examined on the F-15E, however proof of checks on the B-1B emerged in 2024 when a B-1B was photographed in flight with a GBU-72 carried externally. A yr later, a U.S. Air Pressure video additionally confirmed the weapon being examined on the exterior Load Adaptable Modular (LAM) pylons for the B-1B.
