The First Operational Use of the “Iron Sting” Mortar Bomb

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The IDF’s Unit 212 first used the innovative weapon “Iron Sting” – an innovative mortar bomb that can hit with revolutionary precision and reduce collateral damage and harm to innocent people. The unit attacked a Hamas rocket launching post in Gaza from which launches were carried out at Israeli territory, as well as targets in Lebanon.

Iron Sting is a double-guided mortar bomb that enables accurate hits on terrorist targets in urban areas, while increasing the hit’s lethality and reducing the risk of harm to innocents. There are plans to distribute this bomb as widely as possible throughout the army so that it can be used in all the mortar divisions and not just elite units.

The bomb is 120 mm in diameter and is guided by both laser and GPS. The precision of Iron Sting is similar to that of ground or air missiles and bombs of the Air Force or Artillery, but with rapid availability, large quantities, and most importantly- low cost.

Commander of the Commando Brigade Colonel Omer Cohen said that “thanks to the precision, deadliness and expertise of the fighters, unit 212 in cooperation with the Air Force has foiled dozens of terrorists by a variety of means, one of which is the highly precise Iron Sting mortar. Since the beginning of the war, the Commando Brigade has fought fiercely against the enemy’s brutal attack and has eliminated over 100 terrorists around the Gaza Strip.”

According to Ynet News, the first operational use of the mortar bomb was carried out by the Iron Sting team from Unit 212’s reserve– for the first time in the Gaza Strip during the first week of the war, and later was also fired at targets in Lebanon such as intersections through which Hezbollah terrorists tried to escape. In total, the fighters fired about 12 precision bombs from the ground, half to Gaza and half to Lebanon.

Director of the Department of Research and Development at Maf’at, Brigadier General Yaniv Rotem, stated when the bomb was first unveiled in 2021: “Ten years of research and development have brought us to the moment when we are providing the IDF infantry forces with a tiebreaker in the modern battlefield. The precise mortar bomb gives the infantry precise fire, what was so far reserved only for missiles and aerial weapons.”

Rotem also called the Iron Sting a “breakthrough product on an international scale” and claimed it was the harbinger for developing an array of more advanced weapons.”