This is the British 500lb Medium Capacity (MC), a High-Explosive (HE), General-Purpose (GP), aircraft-bomb, with up to 22 different variants and Marks (Mk).

The principal modern British aircraft-bombs were 540lb (245kg) and 1,000lb (454kg) that are no longer in service.The smaller 540lb was retired with the demise of the Harrier GR9 aircraft, with the larger 1000lb being retired in Apr 2019. Currently, the British only use the 500lb class Paveway-4 weapon system, a modified enhanced Mk-82 warhead.

The British 500lb (227kg) aircraft-bomb was developed by Royal Ordnance from WW2 type aircraft-bombs.

Main design changes since that period are improvements to aerodynamic shape and tail-units to allow for the performance of modern aircraft when flying at low altitudes and carrying out high-speed manoeuvres.