Air-dropped Bombs 101

Free-fall bombs have three sections. The bomb body is the casing containing the explosive material. The fuze section can be located in the nose and/or the rear of the bomb and determines the timing of the explosion. The tail section, or fins, determines how the bomb flies through the air. Desired weapons effects are achieved by selecting a particular combination of bomb body, fuzing, and tail section.

Bomb bodies vary in size, weight, and thickness of casing. GP bombs have a thinner case and more explosive filler than penetrating bombs, whereas cluster bombs generally come in dispensers that open to release bomblets at predetermined altitudes. The bomb body casing (except for cluster munitions) houses the explosive filler. Upon detonation, the high-explosive filler creates an explosive train to achieve the desired weapons effect; detonation is triggered by fusing.

Different effects are obtained by mating different bombs to different fuzes. A fuze functions in one of the following ways. An impact fuze is designed to function on or after impact. Detonation upon impact is selected for targets such as supply dumps when the main destructive energy desired is blast. For a building, a delayed detonation might be selected so the bomb can penetrate several floors before exploding. A proximity fuze contains a miniature doppler radar set that senses height above the ground. When the explosion occurs above the ground, most of the destructive effect is caused by the bomb casing fragments.

There are five general categories of munitions damage mechanisms: blast, fragmentation, cratering, shaped charge penetration, and incendiary effects. A given target is usually most vulnerable to one particular damage mechanism, though it may be vulnerable (to a lesser extent) to several damage mechanisms. The factors governing determination of the primary damage mechanism for a given target are: target construction, target location (relative to the point of warhead detonation), warhead damage effects pattern, and the desired type and level of damage.

The effect of blast on personnel is confined to a relatively short distance (110 feet for a 2000 pound bomb). Fragmentation is more deadly to personnel. Fragments of a bomb case can achieve velocities from 3,000 to 11,000 fps depending on the type of bomb (for example GP bomb fragments have velocities of 5,000 to 9,000 fps). The fragmentation effects generated from the detonation of a high-explosive bomb have greater effective range than blast, usually up to approximately 3,000 feet regardless of bomb size. Cratering is the result when a delay fuze allows the bomb to penetrate below the surface, the result is that everything above the bomb is blown up into the air by the resulting explosion. The desired effect depends upon the nature of the target, but regardless of the desired effect, air-dropped bombs typically exhibit both blast and fragmentation effects in varying degrees.

Now let's move on to current events. The workhorse bomb of the USAF and USN in Iraq is the venerable MK-82/BLU-111 500 pound bomb, generally mated to a JDAM GPS-guided fin kit. The BLU-126/B reduced-fragmentation bomb is sometimes used when the desire is cratering (demolishing) a house, this replaces most of the explosives in a BLU-111 with inert materials (the reason for using a BLU-111 casing is to allow mating with the JDAM fin sets). The MK-83 1000 pound bomb is used when greater blast effects are desired to, e.g., knock down all houses within a 500 foot radius of the bomb in order to deny cover to insurgents. So the U.S. had a list of 40 suspected al Qaeda "safe houses" in south Baghdad. Which of these bombs were used against these suspected "safe houses"?

Answer: The MK-83 1000 pound bomb (do the math). Which will knock down all houses within a 500 foot radius of the bomb, produces large fragmentation effects that'll potentially kill dozens of people within a 500 foot radius of the bomb, and invariably result in significant civilian casualties when dropped into a residential area.

Now, I mention that little term "civilian casualties". What does that mean? Well, consider if someone dropped a bomb on your neighborhood. It might be your daughter. Your husband. Your neighbor. Your best friend. Someone you know. And your house might have had its windows blown out by the blast, maybe its roof blown off, may even have collapsed to the side and you barely escaped. Now, will you be grateful to the people who dropped the bomb? Will you thank them for having your best interests at heart because they dropped a 1,000 pound bomb on the crack house down the street that you've been complaining about for months? Or will you be angry and upset and not inclined to be friendly with the people who dropped the 1,000 pound bomb or the politicians who ordered them to do so?

Yet, somehow, Iraqis are supposed to be "grateful" to us for liberating them (from their bodies) with 1,000 pound bombs. Alrighty, then!

-- Badtux the War Penguin