The development of the GBU-12 traces back to the Vietnam War. The U.S. Air Force wanted a greater variety of laser-guided bombs, especially a lighter and more maneuverable one to be able to hit moving targets on the Ho Chi Minh trail. Earlier designs of guided bombs such as the BOLT-117 were quickly superseded by the Paveway series of add-on kits for conventional bombs.

GBU-12 bombs entered service in 1976 and are produced (along with the balance of the Paveway series) by defense contractors Lockheed Martin and Raytheon. Raytheon began production after purchasing the product line from Texas Instruments. Lockheed Martin was awarded a contract to compete with Raytheon when there was a break in production caused by transferring manufacturing out of Texas. “Paveway II” refers specifically to the guidance kit, rather than to the weapon itself.

In 2017, Lockheed Martin secured a $22m contract from the US Air Force to deliver tail kits and laser guidance kits for the GBU-12 configured LGBs, in December 2017. Deliveries are expected to commence in the final quarter of 2019.

The GBU-12 has been used in numerous conflicts such as the Gulf War; F-111s destroyed 920 Iraqi tanks and APCs with GBU-12s. It is among the most commonly used guided munitions, and as such is able to be dropped from a very wide variety of aircraft, such as the F-111, B-52, A-10, F-15E, F/A-18, B-1B, F-16C/D, and F-35 (GBU-49).