Israel integrates SPICE 1000 guided bomb on F-35I Adir stealth fighter for 125 kilometer strikes
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Rafael Advanced Defense Systems and Lockheed Martin have initiated the integration of the SPICE 1000 precision-guided munition onto the F-35I Adir stealth fighter at U.S. manufacturing facilities. Announced at the AFA 2026 conference, this joint program equips the fifth-generation platform with an autonomous, 1,000-lb-class standoff weapon capable of ranges exceeding 120 kilometers. The development pairs low-observable flight characteristics with an electro-optical scene-matching guidance system designed to operate effectively in GPS-denied environments.
The SPICE 1000 integration project transfers an operational Israeli standoff capability (featuring a 3-meter CEP and a 125 km glide range) directly to the F-35 aircraft family. This cooperative effort between Rafael and Lockheed Martin aims to clear the munition for operational employment within months while opening potential integration pathways for global F-35 operators.
Related topic: Israel deploys three new F-35I Adir fighter jets in combat as fleet reaches 48 units
Rafael and Lockheed Martin are integrating the SPICE 1000 on Israel’s F-35I Adir for the first time, adding an internally carried guided bomb with a 125 km range and electro-optical scene-matching guidance designed to retain terminal targeting in GPS-denied conditions. (Picture source: Rafael)
On September 15, 2026, the Israeli company Rafael announced the first integration of the SPICE 1000 guided bomb with the F-35 through a joint program with Lockheed Martin in its U.S. facilities, initially for the Israeli Air Force’s F-35I Adir. Work is expected to require several more months before the weapon is cleared for Israeli F-35 employment, as integration for other F-35 operators is a later objective. The SPICE 1000 is already operational with the Israeli Air Force, which introduced it in 2017 and has employed the guided bomb from F-15 and F-16 fighters, including on long-range missions. The integration therefore transfers an existing 1,000-lb-class strike capability to the F-35 rather than introducing a new munition. Nevertheless, it creates the option to combine the Adir’s penetration characteristics with a weapon with a 125 km range, a 3 m CEP, and an electro-optical terminal scene matching that does not require GPS availability for final target acquisition.
The SPICE 1000 combines a guidance section, an electro-optical seeker, a control system, and deployable wings with 1,000 lb warheads including the Mk 83, BLU-110 and RAP-1000. The 1,000 lb (454 kg) figure therefore refers to the bomb class rather than the complete launch mass after installation of the SPICE kit. Rafael lists a maximum stand-off range of 125 km and a 3 m CEP, compared with 60 km for the 2,000 lb SPICE 2000. The SPICE 1000 has no propulsion: its wings convert the altitude and velocity provided by the launching aircraft into glide range, so release altitude, speed, target elevation, flight profile, and terminal maneuvering determine how much of the 125 km envelope is available. Still, the 125 km range is 65 km greater than the SPICE 2000, or 108% farther, while using a bomb body with half the nominal weight class.
The guidance chain combines INS/GPS navigation with electro-optical terminal scene matching rather than relying exclusively on satellite coordinates like a conventional GPS-guided bomb. Before the sortie, mission planning can associate the weapon with target imagery, coordinates, attack direction, impact angle, and fuze settings, allowing the desired point of impact to be defined as more than a geographic coordinate. After release, the weapon navigates toward the target area before its electro-optical seeker begins Automatic Target Acquisition and compares the observed scene with stored imagery. A successful match allows SPICE 1000 to home autonomously on the selected impact point and approach it from the programmed direction and angle. GPS jamming therefore does not automatically remove terminal guidance because the final acquisition process does not depend on GPS availability, although successful scene matching still requires the seeker to obtain a usable target scene corresponding sufficiently closely to the stored reference imagery.
For the F-35I, qualification requires more than physical carriage, as the F-35 already carries weapons of comparable mass. The SPICE 1000 must fit within the weapons bay, interface with aircraft power and stores-management systems, exchange mission and weapon-status data, receive release commands and separate safely before deploying its wings. Clearance must account for weapon dimensions and mass, bay-door geometry, ejector operation, and separation behavior across several approved combinations of speed, altitude, attitude, and maneuvering. Internal carriage is particularly relevant because it avoids the external store configuration used when Israel carries additional weapons such as JDAMs, which increases payload but alters aircraft aerodynamics and radar signature. Three TR-3 F-35Is arrived in Israel in January 2026, and the SPICE 1000 is exactly intended for internal carriage on TR-3 variants. The Technology Refresh 3 (TR-3) hardware upgrade replaces major computing and display infrastructure and provides the hardware basis required for many Block 4 functions, which encompasses more than 70 major improvements such as electronic warfare, target recognition, and weapons-related changes.
The 125 km range changes release geometry but should not be equated with remaining outside the entire enemy air defense network. It measures distance between weapon release and target, not distance between the F-35I and hostile radars, fighters, or surface-to-air missile batteries. A battery located 80 km in front of a target on the aircraft’s approach axis could theoretically be only 45 km from an aircraft releasing at the weapon’s 125 km maximum range. The measurable gain is the additional distance from the aim point: the SPICE 1000 provides 65 km more standoff distance than the SPICE 2000 and can therefore reduce the distance the F-35I must continue toward the defended target after reaching a suitable release position. Israel has already employed SPICE 1000s and SPICE 250s on long-range missions against Iran during Operation Rising Lion in 2025 and Operation Roaring Lion in 2026, while SPICE weapons have also been used against targets in Yemen.
For Israeli mission planners, the three principal weight classes of the SPICE (for Smart, Precise Impact, Cost-Effective) consequently address different strike calculations. The SPICE 2000 provides the largest explosive or penetration mass and reaches 60 km; the SPICE 1000 halves the nominal bomb-body class but uses deployable wings to extend the maximum stand-off distance to 125 km; the SPICE 250 is a complete 250-lb-class weapon rather than a guidance kit and permits substantially greater carriage density, with as many as 16 weapons per aircraft in some configurations. The resulting trade is quantitative: a target requiring greater penetration or blast effect favors the heavier weapon class, while a mission against dispersed radar vehicles, launchers, command nodes or other individual aim points may place greater value on weapon quantity. The SPICE 1000 occupies the middle of that trade space, retaining a warhead four times the nominal size of the SPICE 250 while producing more than twice the stand-off range of the SPICE 2000.
The number of Israeli F-35s potentially able to exploit that capability is simultaneously increasing. Three F-35I Adirs delivered to Nevatim Air Base in January 2026 increased Israel’s fleet to 48 F-35Is, with two remaining from the original 50-aircraft procurement. A firm additional order for 25 aircraft will raise the contracted fleet to 75 and establish a third squadron, a 50 percent increase over the original 50-aircraft force, with deliveries scheduled to begin in 2028. Israel also announced plans in May 2026 for another 25 aircraft, which would raise the inventory to 100 and double the original fleet if contracted. This expansion is occurring alongside the November 2024 $5.2 billion agreement for 25 F-15IA fighters and a May 2026 plan for another 25 F-15IAs, potentially producing 50 new F-15IAs. The force structure therefore expands both F-35I penetration and sensing capacity and the larger external payload available from the F-15 fleet rather than substituting one type for the other.
If the SPICE 1000 addresses the final weapon-to-target segment of a long-range strike, Israel is also increasing the distance its fighter jets can travel before release. In May 2026, Israel contracted Elbit Systems subsidiary Cyclone for an F-35I extended-range capability involving external fuel tanks, valued at about $34 million, while four KC-46A tankers are also being acquired for aerial refueling. These capabilities solve different range constraints: additional fuel extends aircraft endurance, tankers replenish fuel during the mission, and SPICE 1000 allows the weapon to cover up to the final 125 km after release. Israeli F-35Is have meanwhile been used for penetration, electronic warfare, air defense suppression, target detection and forward sensing, including operations in which they located threats or targets ahead of F-15Is and F-16Is carrying greater fuel and weapon loads. Internal SPICE 1000 carriage therefore adds a 1,000-lb-class strike option directly to the aircraft performing those forward functions, while F-15s and F-16s remain available for larger external loads and KC-46As provide the refueling capacity required for missions conducted at greater distance from Israel.
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Written by Jérôme Brahy
Jérôme Brahy is a defense analyst and documentalist at Army Recognition. He specializes in naval modernization, aviation, drones, armored vehicles, and artillery, with a focus on strategic developments in the United States, China, Ukraine, Russia, South Korea, Türkiye, and Belgium. His analyses go beyond the facts, providing context, identifying key actors, and explaining why defense news matters on a global scale.
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Rafael Advanced Defense Systems and Lockheed Martin have initiated the integration of the SPICE 1000 precision-guided munition onto the F-35I Adir stealth fighter at U.S. manufacturing facilities. Announced at the AFA 2026 conference, this joint program equips the fifth-generation platform with an autonomous, 1,000-lb-class standoff weapon capable of ranges exceeding 120 kilometers. The development pairs low-observable flight characteristics with an electro-optical scene-matching guidance system designed to operate effectively in GPS-denied environments.
The SPICE 1000 integration project transfers an operational Israeli standoff capability (featuring a 3-meter CEP and a 125 km glide range) directly to the F-35 aircraft family. This cooperative effort between Rafael and Lockheed Martin aims to clear the munition for operational employment within months while opening potential integration pathways for global F-35 operators.
Related topic: Israel deploys three new F-35I Adir fighter jets in combat as fleet reaches 48 units
Rafael and Lockheed Martin are integrating the SPICE 1000 on Israel’s F-35I Adir for the first time, adding an internally carried guided bomb with a 125 km range and electro-optical scene-matching guidance designed to retain terminal targeting in GPS-denied conditions. (Picture source: Rafael)
On September 15, 2026, the Israeli company Rafael announced the first integration of the SPICE 1000 guided bomb with the F-35 through a joint program with Lockheed Martin in its U.S. facilities, initially for the Israeli Air Force’s F-35I Adir. Work is expected to require several more months before the weapon is cleared for Israeli F-35 employment, as integration for other F-35 operators is a later objective. The SPICE 1000 is already operational with the Israeli Air Force, which introduced it in 2017 and has employed the guided bomb from F-15 and F-16 fighters, including on long-range missions. The integration therefore transfers an existing 1,000-lb-class strike capability to the F-35 rather than introducing a new munition. Nevertheless, it creates the option to combine the Adir’s penetration characteristics with a weapon with a 125 km range, a 3 m CEP, and an electro-optical terminal scene matching that does not require GPS availability for final target acquisition.
The SPICE 1000 combines a guidance section, an electro-optical seeker, a control system, and deployable wings with 1,000 lb warheads including the Mk 83, BLU-110 and RAP-1000. The 1,000 lb (454 kg) figure therefore refers to the bomb class rather than the complete launch mass after installation of the SPICE kit. Rafael lists a maximum stand-off range of 125 km and a 3 m CEP, compared with 60 km for the 2,000 lb SPICE 2000. The SPICE 1000 has no propulsion: its wings convert the altitude and velocity provided by the launching aircraft into glide range, so release altitude, speed, target elevation, flight profile, and terminal maneuvering determine how much of the 125 km envelope is available. Still, the 125 km range is 65 km greater than the SPICE 2000, or 108% farther, while using a bomb body with half the nominal weight class.
The guidance chain combines INS/GPS navigation with electro-optical terminal scene matching rather than relying exclusively on satellite coordinates like a conventional GPS-guided bomb. Before the sortie, mission planning can associate the weapon with target imagery, coordinates, attack direction, impact angle, and fuze settings, allowing the desired point of impact to be defined as more than a geographic coordinate. After release, the weapon navigates toward the target area before its electro-optical seeker begins Automatic Target Acquisition and compares the observed scene with stored imagery. A successful match allows SPICE 1000 to home autonomously on the selected impact point and approach it from the programmed direction and angle. GPS jamming therefore does not automatically remove terminal guidance because the final acquisition process does not depend on GPS availability, although successful scene matching still requires the seeker to obtain a usable target scene corresponding sufficiently closely to the stored reference imagery.
For the F-35I, qualification requires more than physical carriage, as the F-35 already carries weapons of comparable mass. The SPICE 1000 must fit within the weapons bay, interface with aircraft power and stores-management systems, exchange mission and weapon-status data, receive release commands and separate safely before deploying its wings. Clearance must account for weapon dimensions and mass, bay-door geometry, ejector operation, and separation behavior across several approved combinations of speed, altitude, attitude, and maneuvering. Internal carriage is particularly relevant because it avoids the external store configuration used when Israel carries additional weapons such as JDAMs, which increases payload but alters aircraft aerodynamics and radar signature. Three TR-3 F-35Is arrived in Israel in January 2026, and the SPICE 1000 is exactly intended for internal carriage on TR-3 variants. The Technology Refresh 3 (TR-3) hardware upgrade replaces major computing and display infrastructure and provides the hardware basis required for many Block 4 functions, which encompasses more than 70 major improvements such as electronic warfare, target recognition, and weapons-related changes.
The 125 km range changes release geometry but should not be equated with remaining outside the entire enemy air defense network. It measures distance between weapon release and target, not distance between the F-35I and hostile radars, fighters, or surface-to-air missile batteries. A battery located 80 km in front of a target on the aircraft’s approach axis could theoretically be only 45 km from an aircraft releasing at the weapon’s 125 km maximum range. The measurable gain is the additional distance from the aim point: the SPICE 1000 provides 65 km more standoff distance than the SPICE 2000 and can therefore reduce the distance the F-35I must continue toward the defended target after reaching a suitable release position. Israel has already employed SPICE 1000s and SPICE 250s on long-range missions against Iran during Operation Rising Lion in 2025 and Operation Roaring Lion in 2026, while SPICE weapons have also been used against targets in Yemen.
For Israeli mission planners, the three principal weight classes of the SPICE (for Smart, Precise Impact, Cost-Effective) consequently address different strike calculations. The SPICE 2000 provides the largest explosive or penetration mass and reaches 60 km; the SPICE 1000 halves the nominal bomb-body class but uses deployable wings to extend the maximum stand-off distance to 125 km; the SPICE 250 is a complete 250-lb-class weapon rather than a guidance kit and permits substantially greater carriage density, with as many as 16 weapons per aircraft in some configurations. The resulting trade is quantitative: a target requiring greater penetration or blast effect favors the heavier weapon class, while a mission against dispersed radar vehicles, launchers, command nodes or other individual aim points may place greater value on weapon quantity. The SPICE 1000 occupies the middle of that trade space, retaining a warhead four times the nominal size of the SPICE 250 while producing more than twice the stand-off range of the SPICE 2000.
The number of Israeli F-35s potentially able to exploit that capability is simultaneously increasing. Three F-35I Adirs delivered to Nevatim Air Base in January 2026 increased Israel’s fleet to 48 F-35Is, with two remaining from the original 50-aircraft procurement. A firm additional order for 25 aircraft will raise the contracted fleet to 75 and establish a third squadron, a 50 percent increase over the original 50-aircraft force, with deliveries scheduled to begin in 2028. Israel also announced plans in May 2026 for another 25 aircraft, which would raise the inventory to 100 and double the original fleet if contracted. This expansion is occurring alongside the November 2024 $5.2 billion agreement for 25 F-15IA fighters and a May 2026 plan for another 25 F-15IAs, potentially producing 50 new F-15IAs. The force structure therefore expands both F-35I penetration and sensing capacity and the larger external payload available from the F-15 fleet rather than substituting one type for the other.
If the SPICE 1000 addresses the final weapon-to-target segment of a long-range strike, Israel is also increasing the distance its fighter jets can travel before release. In May 2026, Israel contracted Elbit Systems subsidiary Cyclone for an F-35I extended-range capability involving external fuel tanks, valued at about $34 million, while four KC-46A tankers are also being acquired for aerial refueling. These capabilities solve different range constraints: additional fuel extends aircraft endurance, tankers replenish fuel during the mission, and SPICE 1000 allows the weapon to cover up to the final 125 km after release. Israeli F-35Is have meanwhile been used for penetration, electronic warfare, air defense suppression, target detection and forward sensing, including operations in which they located threats or targets ahead of F-15Is and F-16Is carrying greater fuel and weapon loads. Internal SPICE 1000 carriage therefore adds a 1,000-lb-class strike option directly to the aircraft performing those forward functions, while F-15s and F-16s remain available for larger external loads and KC-46As provide the refueling capacity required for missions conducted at greater distance from Israel.
Explore More Defense News
• Land Defense News
• Naval Defense News
• Defense Aerospace News
Written by Jérôme Brahy
Jérôme Brahy is a defense analyst and documentalist at Army Recognition. He specializes in naval modernization, aviation, drones, armored vehicles, and artillery, with a focus on strategic developments in the United States, China, Ukraine, Russia, South Korea, Türkiye, and Belgium. His analyses go beyond the facts, providing context, identifying key actors, and explaining why defense news matters on a global scale.
