JP233

Originally known as the LAAAS (Low-Altitude Airfield Attack System), the JP233 was a British submunition delivery system consisting of large dispenser pods carrying several hundred submunitions designed to attack runways.

Design and development
Development of the system began in 1977 as a 50/50 cooperative program between the U.S. Air Force and Hunting Engineering (now known as INSYS) of the UK. The USAF intended to use the weapon with its FB-111 strike aircraft; however, in 1982 rising costs forced them to pull out of the program, and the British completed development on their own for potential use with the Tornado, Jaguar and Harrier.

The dispensers could be carried on wing pylons: short-finned containers for bomblets, or medium-length finned containers for mines. The F-111 was capable of carrying a pair of each type, but the Jaguar and Harrier would only be able to carry a single pair of either type. However, the Tornado could be fitted with a pair of much larger pods on the shoulder pylons, each containing both types of munition. Each JP233 as fitted to the Tornado was divided into a rear section with 30 SG-357 runway cratering submunitions, while the front section carried 215 HB-876 anti-personnel mines. Both types of submunitions were retarded by small parachutes.

The SG-357, which weighed 26 kilograms (75 pounds), was a two-stage munition – a shaped charge in the front blasted a hole in a runway's concrete, then a second charge fell into the hole and exploded, producing a large crater. The HB-876 mines would lie scattered on the surface, making rapid repair of the runway nearly impossible. They would explode at preset intervals or if disturbed, and were capable of disabling bulldozers or other earth-moving machines.

Unlike most other submunition delivery systems that essentially function as free-falling bombs, the JP233 dispenser pods remained with their aircraft during operation and were jettisoned once empty.

Deployment
Deployment was rather frightening for the flight crew, since it required the aircraft to fly low, straight and level over an enemy airfield, and when over the runway the pods would dispense their payload. During the Gulf War it was widely reported in the popular press that Tornados were shot down by AAA fire and MANPADS during delivery of the JP233 munition, but in fact none of the losses occurred during the attack phase of a JP233 mission. Only one aircraft was lost carrying the JP233 munition when Tornado ZA392 crashed into the ground 16 km after delivering the weapon at low level; enemy fire was not reported and it was believed that this was an incident of controlled flight into terrain.

What did alarm the crews of British and Saudi Arabian Tornados using JP233, however, was that the aircraft was brightly illuminated at night by the exploding munitions. Attacks using JP233 were suspended six days into the Gulf War, as the Iraqi Air Force was effectively flying no missions.

With the increasing availability of standoff attack munitions capable of the same mission with little risk to the flight crew and aircraft, and the British entry into the Land Mines Treaty (which declares the HB-876 illegal), the JP233 has been withdrawn from service.