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 be able to carry only 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.