Direct proof of use
The National Museum of the U.S. Air Force directly identifies Afghanistan as a theater where F-15E and F-16 aircraft delivered GBU-24 Paveway III bombs against high-value targets. The same fact sheet describes the GBU-24 as a Paveway III laser-guided bomb built around a 2,000-pound BLU-109 penetrator body for hardened targets.
U.S. Navy F-14 use is documented in aviation-history reporting that cites Tony Holmes' Osprey account of F-14 Tomcat units in Operation Enduring Freedom. That account reports nine F-14-delivered GBU-24s in the Afghanistan campaign, split between VF-213, VF-14, and VF-41, and describes VF-41 aircraft using single GBU-24 loads against a cave target southeast of Kandahar in October 2001.
Sources: GBU-24 Paveway III Fact Sheet, Aviation Geek Club F-14 GBU-24 OEF
Timeline
The first dated public incident in the sources is VF-41's October 2001 cave-target mission southeast of Kandahar, followed by a VF-14 GBU-24 drop on a fuel and ammunition storage dump in Kabul on 2001-10-17. These incidents place the munition in the initial air campaign after Operation Enduring Freedom began on 2001-10-07.
On 2002-03-03, a 335th Fighter Squadron F-15E used the BLU-118/B thermobaric warhead attached to a GBU-24 guidance and control kit in the Gardez region during the Operation Anaconda period. Reporting based on Steve Davies' Osprey account identifies the resulting weapon designation as GBU-24H/B and says the weapon missed the cave entrance.
Sources: Aviation Geek Club F-14 GBU-24 OEF, Aviation Geek Club BLU-118 GBU-24H
Operational role
The Afghanistan record ties the GBU-24 to U.S. and NATO air-launched precision strike rather than to possession by Afghan government forces or Taliban-aligned forces. The documented operators in the available sources are U.S. Air Force F-15E and F-16 aircraft and U.S. Navy F-14 units.
The weapon's role was hardened-target and high-value-target attack. The F-14 accounts describe cave entrances, a fuel and ammunition storage dump, and a small number of carefully planned bunker-buster missions. RAND's review of Operation Enduring Freedom provides the broader air-campaign context: precision-guided munitions made up nearly 60 percent of munitions expended, and Afghanistan operations depended heavily on extended-range strike, tanker support, and aircraft sensors such as LANTIRN carried by F-14 and F-15E aircraft.
The public sources do not provide a complete theater-wide GBU-24 expenditure table for Afghanistan. They support specific documented uses and platform/operator context, while broader campaign studies explain the precision-strike environment in which the weapon was used.
Sources: GBU-24 Paveway III Fact Sheet, Aviation Geek Club F-14 GBU-24 OEF, Aviation Geek Club BLU-118 GBU-24H, RAND Air Power Against Terror
