Israel Near Completion of Long-Range Bunker Buster Missile

A new air-to-surface missile featuring an extended range will limit the exposure of Israeli aircraft to ground threats, according to reports.

The new missile, designed by Israeli defense technology firm Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, is capable of targeting high-value, stationary targets as well as targets which change positions in GPS-denied environments.

Dubbed simply “Rocks,” the air-to-surface missile can be armed with a penetration warhead or blast explosive warhead depending on whether targets are beneath the surface or above ground.

“We have completed full-scale development and testing – including airborne and homing – but we have not yet completed the qualification of the missile,” Gideon Weiss, deputy general manager for business, development and marketing at Rafael’s Air & C4ISR division, told IHS Jane’s on Wednesday.

Putting the weapon through qualification testing “will be the final part of the development process, which will be completed according to our customer requirements,” Weiss told the defense publication.

Details about the customers who will fire Rocks have not been unveiled, and the weapon’s weight also remains undisclosed.

Weiss noted in comments to IHS Jane’s that the weapon has been certified on an Israeli Air Force F-16I aircraft testbed.