2003 Iraq War

GBU-35 BLU-110 JDAM in the 2003 Iraq War

U.S. air forces expended 675 GBU-35 JDAMs during the opening 2003 Operation Iraqi Freedom air campaign, using the 1,000-pound GPS-guided bomb as part of the wider JDAM strike effort.

Weapon profileGBU-35 BLU-110 Joint Direct Attack Munition
SideUnited States and coalition forcesRoleLong-Range Strike
GBU-35 BLU-110 Joint Direct Attack Munition, 1,000-pound GPS/INS-guided bomb, Munitions - 2003 Iraq War
Image source: JDAM family rendering

Evidence Map

ClaimSources
U.S. air forces expended 675 GBU-35 JDAMs during the opening 2003 Iraq War air campaign.

Sources: USCENTAF OIF By The Numbers, HRW Off Target Appendix D

The GBU-35 was a 1,000-pound GPS-guided JDAM in the BLU-110 / Navy JDAM designation path.

Sources: HRW Off Target Appendix D, Navy JDAM Fact File, Designation Systems JDAM page

Public aggregate sources do not tie the 675 GBU-35 rounds to individual targets, locations, or aircraft.

Sources: USCENTAF OIF By The Numbers, HRW Off Target Appendix D

Timeline

GBU-35 BLU-110 Joint Direct Attack Munition In 2003 Iraq War

  1. Opening air-campaign accounting window

    USCENTAF defined its Operation Iraqi Freedom data window as 0300Z on 19 March through 0259Z on 18 April 2003 and listed 675 GBU-35 JDAMs among guided munitions expended.

    Sources: USCENTAF OIF By The Numbers

  2. HRW publishes air-war weapons appendix

    Human Rights Watch's Off Target report reproduced the guided-munition table and listed the GBU-35 JDAM as a 1,000-pound GPS-guided bomb with 675 used.

    Sources: HRW Off Target Appendix D

Documented Use

Direct proof of use

The GBU-35 BLU-110 JDAM is directly documented in the 2003 Iraq War through U.S. Central Command Air Forces' Operation Iraqi Freedom air-campaign accounting. The 30 April 2003 report listed 675 GBU-35 JDAMs under guided munitions expended during the campaign period it measured.

Human Rights Watch's Off Target appendix independently reproduced the same air-war weapons table and identified the GBU-35 as a 1,000-pound GPS-guided JDAM, also listing 675 used in Iraq.

Sources: USCENTAF OIF By The Numbers, HRW Off Target Appendix D

Timeline

The USCENTAF report defined its data window as 0300Z on 19 March 2003 through 0259Z on 18 April 2003, covering the opening air campaign. Within that window, the report recorded 19,948 guided munitions and counted the GBU-35 JDAM alongside other JDAM variants.

By 11 December 2003, Human Rights Watch had published Off Target, using the same Operation Iraqi Freedom air-war munitions accounting in its appendix on weapons used in the air war.

Sources: USCENTAF OIF By The Numbers, HRW Off Target Appendix D

Narrative

The GBU-35 was part of the JDAM family of GPS-aided inertial guided air-to-surface weapons. Navy JDAM reference material describes the 1,000-pound MK 83/BLU-110 payload class and notes more than 6,000 JDAM expenditures in Operation Iraqi Freedom, while the USCENTAF table breaks out the GBU-35 count within the guided-munition totals.

The available public sources support aggregate use rather than individual strike attribution. They show that U.S. forces used the GBU-35 as an air-delivered precision strike munition in the opening Iraq campaign, but they do not identify specific aircraft, targets, locations, or battle-damage outcomes for the 675 GBU-35 rounds.

Sources: USCENTAF OIF By The Numbers, Navy JDAM Fact File, Designation Systems JDAM page

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Sources