BLU-82 / B ( eng. Bomb live unit 82 / B ; nickname "Daisy cutter", from the English. Daisy Cutter - mower of daisies) - an American aircraft bomb . Before the advent of GBU-43 was the most powerful non-nuclear munition in the world.
Contrary to some media reports , the BLU-82 is not an ammunition of a volume explosion . The bomb is designed to drop MC-130 from an aircraft at an altitude of at least 1800 m. The total mass of the bomb is 6800 kg, the weight of the warhead is 5700 kg. The bomb has an external contact fuse, due to which the explosion occurs in the air and almost does not leave a crater .
History
The bomb was developed during the Vietnam War and was originally intended to clear the space in the jungle for helicopter airstrips , which is why she got the nickname "Daisy Cutter" ( Russian mower of daisies ).
A total of 225 units were produced. The last BLU-82 bomb from the U.S. arsenal was dropped at the Utah training ground on July 15, 2008 . The production of new bombs of this type is not planned, and the remaining unactivated bombs will be used to train pilots of military transport aircraft or exhibited in museums [1] .
Combat use
It was first used in 1970 during the Vietnam War , later it was also used to destroy enemy manpower. South Vietnamese planes in the last days of the Vietnam War drove the “mowers” to the position of the North Vietnamese army in the desperate hope of destroying enemy soldiers in the battle of Juan Lock .
It was used in the Mayaguez ship incident (1975).
During Operation Desert Storm (Iraq, 1991), the pilots of the MC-130 E Combat Talon I of the 8th Special Operations Squadron used the 11 BLU-82 / Bs [2] .
The US Air Force used several BLU-82s during a campaign in Afghanistan (2001), to destroy Taliban fighters in caves and underground complexes in Afghanistan .
See also
- GBU-43 / B Massive Ordnance Air Blast
- Heavy Duty Aerial Bomb
Notes
- ↑ Patrick Nichols. Duke Field Airmen drop last 15,000-pound bomb . US Air Force Official Website, August 21, 2008
- ↑ "8th Special Operations Squadron". 1st Special Operations Wing Public Affairs Office. March 28, 2017. Retrieved September 23, 201