JP233
 

Wondering what runway was used for the JP233 trial?

Presumably West Freugh / Luce Bay?

Think that the JP233 was trialed on the roads around my county, and they still haven’t repaired them!😟

“The first JP233 test flight was flown over the range at West Freugh, U.K., on February 23, 1982, using a British Aerospace flight trials Tornado (ZA354/BS07). Trials continued throughout 1983 with the release of the munitions, initially from height, and then at lower levels, including against a prepared surface to confirm its concrete-busting performance.”

Not knowing too much about the 233, I’m presuming the parachute was to retard it’s horizontal trajectory so it would remain “over the area” and to give it a more vertical impact.

One would have thought a few more inches of penetration given by an unretarded vertical may have been beneficial against the concrete...

out of curiosity - (haven’t looked) - are there any publicly available BDAs from its use?

Whilst the weapon worked as advertised....operationally it was a complete flop.

If it worked "as advertised", in what way was it a "complete flop"?

Perhaps the need to fly directly over a heavily defended target meant its utility was limited.

The first live drop from an RAF aircraft, flown by an RAF crew, was out of Duke Field (a satellite of Eglin AFB) FL in the Spring of 1986. Mike Rondot did a painting of the event.

My memory from an OEU presentation at Laarbruch in 1986 is that no full operational drops were trialled in that the dispensers were always retained at the end of each drop. This was due concerns about safe separation of the empty dispensers at operational speeds and heights. Thus they were jettisoned at 250 kts in 25 wing on a second pass. Therefore the first full operational trial was carried out on the first night of Desert Storm.

No aircraft were lost dropping JP233 so to call it useless or tactically ineffective is just plainly incorrect. One aircraft was lost post-target but this was mostly likely a CFIT event. There were occurrences of nav computer reversions to a degraded (Doppler SAHR) mode at the end of a JP233 run which had an immediate effect on the accuracy and latency of the HUD symbology. Thus bunting down by night in reaction to the ballooning effect of losing over 5 tonnes of mass from the aircraft over a few seconds was particularly risky.

In terms of weapons effects, I think they were reduced somewhat by the soft sand beneath the Iraqi runways as the heave effect of the secondary warhead relied upon a good dense subsoil to direct the blast.

Main problem, IIRC, was that they were designed to deny single runway WP runways in Eastern Europe, whilst Iraqi airfields were/are enormous with up to nine main runways and taxiways suitable for aircraft operations. Meaning denying a MOS was almost impossible - and every airfield would have had to be revisited almost daily to keep the suppressed.

A more profitable target was, I believe, the HAS access tracks. Stop them leaving their HAS then pick them off one by one.

We visited Huntings in 1974 when on the WEC and asked about a standoff capability. They paled as they thought it might be cancelled.

Pontius Navigator

Interesting. The original JP233 programme was a joint effort between the UK and the USA, to arm Tornado GR1 and USAF F-111's various. As originally specced it WAS powered, to be a stand off weapon. When that was changed to free fall the US pulled out.

Then the USAF bought the French Durandal runway cratering bomb - Heyford F-111E's used them in Desert Storm

It always seemed easy to defeat - Tethered balloons trailing cables ready to partly set free on Air Attack Red - have one of these at the end of every straight bit of concrete

Very good point, but most of the operational drops were flown across the runways/taxiways/HAS access.

Not sure I'd want to take-off from or land at an airfield with a lighter than air blimp at either end of the runway mind you.

Most trial/surveillance drops were against the Hard Target at West Freugh, which, supposedly, was laid to WP spec. Only SG357 munitions were dropped and the dispenser retained on the ac. AFAIK no HB876 mines were dropped at West Freugh, the range not being suitable for such munitions; trials and surveillance of the 876 were conducted on Eglin ranges.
The SG357 was very effective on the target, creating a camouflet and heave around the edge. Clearance of ux SG357s either complete or ux secondaries was a long and complicated job, involving an RC Hymac in 3 roles - concrete breaking, excavating and 'grabbing'; two RC EOD wheelbarrows and an RC sawbench.
In late '91 I was involved in a UN visit to Iraqi airbase H2, I was not able to get to the runways to see any results of JP233 - that was not my brief, but the airfield was rendered unusable by bombing: HAS doors blown off their hinges and the 'contents' a plie of molten metal, even the gym took a hit. There were ux cluster bomblets still laying in the gutters. One thing that struck me was the preparedness, not that it did much good, air raid shelters were plentiful and well stocked with food and medical supplies, in stark contrast to those in the UK and RAFG.

JP233
 

TOEU did live drop trials at Eglin AFB in '86 and '88 if I recall correctly.

JP233 & Desert Storm
 

JP233 was specifically requested by the US for DS. Origianally allied forces wre deployed directly opposite Kuwait to deter Iraqi forces from pressing into Saudi. However, for the ground offensive Gen Shwarzkopf was redploying the Army to the W to enter Iraq and carry out the hook to cut off the Iraqi forces in Kuwait. But he needed to do the redeployment quickly and in secret and to achieve that he needed to keep the Iraqi AF on the ground, and you don't do that by bombing HAS's one by one. So Tornado+JP233 was specifically requested and carried out the job as tasked - Iraqi sortie rates fell by c70% after first night and stayed that way.

This guy said they they were asked to do Durandal but declined!

What fascinated me were the special to type loaders, IIRC in the form of hovercraft, which allowed for the limited ground clearance under the fuselage......

The Type Z Weapon Loader

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....08fc379113.jpg

The infamous "Z" Loader,probably a good idea on paper, or a nice clean smooth floor, but in the real world of uneven, rutted and sand encrusted concrete on the HAS and sun shelter floors of Dharhran, they were utterly useless. Only ever used it in the sand storm generator mode the once, after that I just lugged it around on the castors.

The JP233 was also fairly easy to defeat, simply by having any peasant with a gun to fire it into the air over the airfield and approaches and let the crews fly through it...
Teej...

Didn't stop us. If you were a Dharhan man, you will, of course know that.

There are a lot of myths & misconceptions kicking around about the employment and effects of the JP233 in GW1, and some of the losses experienced during those ops.
Although I (clearly) wasn't around at the time, over the last 12 months I've been speaking to many of the crews involved in the first 3 nights of JP233 ops back in Jan 1991 for my new book (shameless plug) and - unless of course you were there - you might be surprised at the recollections. Truly astonishing feats of combat aviation.
I've also got a VHS video taken at one of the Iraqi sites a couple of days after the ceasefire showing some of the damage and repairs. And a couple of interesting US satellite images too; unseen at the time I understand. But as I say, I can't confirm as was otherwise engaged.
https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....c8b5702d2f.jpg

Pre-ordered just now, John, you rascal! 👍

Same here.

John, you must owe me a beer by now! Next Feb maybe? ;)

Are you sure about that? I thought the redeployment was in advance of any action.

I remember watching TV broadcasts from 'somewhere in the desert but I can't tell you where'. The idiot broadcaster (BBC) was grinning like a Cheshire cat in front of a shop with the town name on it and Hercs were using the runway behind him. It could have been IRAFHA but that is much a guess.

Once the air offensive began then the media switched their focus.

and again.

Just had an email from Waterstones that my pre-order is ready to collect. Looking forward to this one.

Hope you enjoy it!

It's always tricky to tell other people's stories but initial feedback from a few chums - and their loved ones back home - who were involved, and draft-read the manuscript for me, seem to suggest I haven't made any terrible bloopers.

That said.... no doubt a few PPrune experts might disagree. We shall see!

https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....e4bc9d8aa1.jpg

Really looking forward to reading it.

John, Is there any plans to make any of your recent your books into talking books? Especially this one?
I think I had a copy of Tornado Down on tape once.

Also, as an aside.
For the nighttime missions - were the Mauser cannons loaded with ammunition? and if so what might you have used it on?
I'd have thought better to have the (lack of) weight

TR

Hi Type, Almost all of my books are available as audio books - just have a look on Amazon.

The loads changed as the ops changed (and the 3 separate Dets also sometimes diverged) but certainly on the first few nights the guns were fully fuelled.
Indeed, on night 2 or 3 Steve Barnes took umbrage at a AAA site trying to kill him as they flew in towards an Iraqi airfield at 540kts & 200ft so he selected TOO and hosed the position down with HE.
Anyone who has ever used the guns at night (the flash/flame rather tends to envelope the cockpit) will understand what an abject and truly unpleasant shock this was to Charley Barley in the back seat who was head in looking for the offsets as they were in the midst of the attack run. Halcyon days indeed.

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....36d79b2f2e.jpg

My copy arrived today. Perfect timing for the sunny days ahead and a good read sat in the garden.

Hope you enjoy it and I look forward to the debrief...............!

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....a012c3eedf.jpg
The first aircraft to use JP233 in anger I believe? Jerry Witts mount for the first raid, ZD843. My photo of her, looking at the repair Bernie James did for the big hole on the front. I repaired the hole in the cockpit floor. The badly damaged jet from the night raid of the 24th of Janunary 91 from Dhahran. Was on the ABDR teams that got her back to be a war goer. The other aircraft in that formation didn't get back, ZA403. I know Simon Burgess was the pilot (RIP). Just brought Johns book as a birthday present for my brother and another copy for my wife to pack for mine. Shame I didn't find this photo earlier as it would have been in Dave Gledhill's next book being released at the end of the month.

https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....c9ba312422.jpg
Early morning launch by the Dhahran wing, early Feb 1991. Only picture of a flying jet I got!

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....f371326338.jpg
The 31 Sqn line at sunrise.

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune....56ab49d171.jpg
That was a bast**** to repair and required some lateral thinking outside of the box of stuff we had.

That's amazing John,

On so many levels!

Good on him for having the chutzpa to have a go back - never mind the spare capacity - I can't imagine having any other thought than get lower and faster!
Hard to imagine he could see what he was firing at apart from AAA's flash's - hard to estimate range Id have thought
Presumably the AAA was on track and he just bunted over (in the dark) to have at pop at it.

The mind boggles!

Never heard of any nighttime strafe before

But surely you would expect to be blinded by the gun!