Thermobaric Weapons Becoming More Common
Things that make you
go BOOM...
Thermobaric weapons are also known as "fuel-air explosives." No longer confined to the bombs that were used to clear helicopter landing zones in Vietnam, or even the gargantuan 15,000-pound BLU-82 Commando Vault/"Daisy Cutter" [see Graphic | Flash] and 21,000-pound GBU-43B "MOAB" bombs, they're now finding their way into portable rocket launchers like the SMAW, RPG, et. al. DID noted this very trend in our March 10, 2005 coverage of the LAW rocket's return, and similar man-portable thermobaric rockets proved extremely effective during The Second Battle of Fallujah in November 2004. Fortified buildings used as strongholds by Islamist paramilitary death squads were sometimes caved in with a single shot from a US Marine Corps SMAW-NE (Shoulder-Mounted Antitank Weapon, New Explosive).
Defense Tech has a link-filled article noting that hand-held thermobaric rockets can be found in Russian and Chinese arsenals these days, among others. The article also addresses some of the implications these weapons present for issues like vehicle protection design, body armor protection, etc.
$6.9M for Penetrator Bomb Casings
BLU-109/B Penetrator:
Battery Kits Are Extra
Small business qualifier Ellwood National Forge Co. in Irvine, PA received a $6.9 million modification to a firm-fixed-price contract for BLU-109/B Empty Cases, and CNU-417 Containers for Multiple Air Force Weapons Platforms. The BLU-109/B (I-2000) is an improved 2,000-pound-class bomb designed as a penetrator without a forward fuze well. Its configuration is relatively slim in order to help it punch through concrete, and its skin is a single-piece, forged warhead casing of one-inch, high-grade steel that's much harder than that of the standard MK-84 bomb. The BLU-109/B can be mated with a laser guidance kit to form a GBU-24/A penetrator bomb, or it can be fitted with a JDAM GPS/INS guidance kit.
Work on this contract will be performed in Irvine, PA and is expected to be complete by Dec. 31, 2006. This was a sole source contract initiated on Aug. 18, 2005 by the U.S. Army Field Support Command at Rock Island, IL (DAAA09-01-C-0049).
$14.5M for Bomb Proximity Fuse Sensors
MK80 Bomb Structure
ATK Tactical Systems Co. LLC in Rocket Center, WV received a $14.5 million firm-fixed-price contract modification to provide for the DSU-33B/B proximity sensor, a nose-mounted radio frequency proximity sensor used on M117 and MK-80 series general-purpose bombs and the Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM).
This action is for procurement of 12,675 additional DSU-33B/B proximity sensors and cables for the Navy and 350 sensors and cables, 20 D-2 trainers and 6 D-5 trainers for foreign military sales under Option 4 of the contract.
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