From: Mark Cook <markc@hpcvxjme.cv.hp.com>
Subject: Re: BLU-82/B What sort of bomb is it ?
Organization: Hewlett-Packard Company, Corvallis, Oregon USA
Date: Sun, 8 Nov 1992 19:11:26 GMT


From Mark Cook <markc@hpcvxjme.cv.hp.com>

Since no two posts on the subject thus far have contained much more
that "I think it's..." and "If I remember correctly,...", I figured
I might as well post the documented description (again).  I seem to
be posting this info about once a year.  Maybe we need it in an FAQ. :^)

The following text is excerpted from "Arsenal of Democracy-III: AMERICA'S
WAR MACHINE (The Pursuit of Global Dominance)" by Tom Gervasi (Global Press,
1984 - ISBN 0-394-54102-2) page 253:

[Begin included text]

FUEL AIR MUNITIONS -

Developed toward the end of the war in Vietnam, this new type of air
munition uses highly volatile fuels, including ethylene oxide, propylene
oxide, meththylacetlyene, propadiene, propane and butane, to produce an
explosive rather than an incendiary effect.  Released into the air, they
form a highly combustible cloud that, on detonation, produces more than
five times the energy of its equivalent weight in TNT.  This is more than
sufficient to detonate magnetic, electro-magnetic, hydraulic, seismic and
infrared antitank and anti-personnel mines, whether of long impulse or
double-impulse fusing.  Fuel air munitions are also a formidable anti-
personnel weapon, producing blast overpressures that casue lethal concussion.
These are the major types in service or in development:

CBU-55/B 500-lb. FUEL AIR MUNITION:
    Three 100-lb. canisters, each with 72 lbs. of fuel, which separate on
release from the launching aircraft and disperse a cloud of fuel 56 feet
across and 9 feet thick, that is detonated by delayed-action fuses 3 inches
above the ground, producing a blast overpressure of 300 pounds per square
inch, sufficient to incapacitate or kill men in bunkers, foxholes and
tunnels.  Total weight: 460 lbs.

CBU-72/B 500-lb. FUEL AIR MUNITION:
    The CBU-55/B fitted with drogue parachutes to retard descent, for
delivery by high-speed aircraft such as the A-4 Skyhawk and A-7 Corsair II.

PAVE PAT II 2,500 lb. FUEL AIR MUNITION:
    A sheet steel container filled with 2,245 lbs. of pressurized propane.
The Pave Pat Blue 72 version is for delivery by the A-1 Skyraider, and the
Pave Pat Blue 76 version is a reinforced container for delivery by high-
speed aircraft such as the F-4 Phantom.

MAD FAE (MASS AIR DELIVERY, FUEL AIR EXPLOSIVE):
    Twelve containers, each of 136 lbs of ethylene oxide or propylene oxide,
attached on a line in single file to the freight hook of the CH-46, CH-53,
or UH-1 helicopter, with stabilizing panels to keep the line from twisting,
and releasing simultaneously or in sequence, dispersing a volatile cloud
over an area of more that 1,000 feet in length.  In development for the
Marine Corps, and first tested at China Lake, California in 1960.

FAESHED (FUEL AIR EXPLOSIVE, HELICOPTER DELIVERED):
    The CBU-44/B modified for use by the U.S. Army in mine clearance
operations.

SLUFAE (SURFACE LAUNCHED UNIT, FUEL AIR EXPLOSIVE):
    A mobile ground unit based on the chassis for the M-113A1 armoured
personnel carrier, mounting a series of 30 launch tubes for the 5"
(121.8 mm) Zuni rocket.  Each rocket is equipped with the Pave Pat
Blue 73 Fuel Air Munition warhead, and has a range of 750 yards (2,250 feet).
Used for mine clearance, the system has a kill radius of 33 feet for pressure-
fuse mines and 112 feet for pull-fused trip-wired mines.

BLU-82/B 15,000-lb. GENERAL PURPOSE BOMB:
    ALso known as the Daisy Cutter or Big Blue 82, thsi is a cast steel
case filled with 12,600 lbs. of DBA-22M, an aqueous mixture of ammonium
nitrate, aluminum powder, and polystyrene soap as a binder.  It produces
an explosion of a size and intensity that observers have described as "the
closest thing to a nuclear bomb" and is used not only for mine clearance
but to create landing pads for helicopters and STOL aircraft.  Producing
blast overpressures in excess of 1,000 pounds per square inch, it literally
shears off trees and other obstructions at ground level.  The only way to
understand the force of concussion it brings to bear on the human body is
to picture a man being hit by a baseball bat at full strength, and then
to imagine him hit by that kind of force at every exposed portion of his
body simultaneously.

[End of included text.]

BTW, the descriptions of the Daisy Cutter being deployed by pallet
launch form C-130s is correct, since the bomb casing is too large
for deployment by any conventional bombers.  However, the previously
stated detonation altitudes were incorrect.  The BLU-82/B is marginally
fin-stabilized, to assume a "nose-down" postion (if such a weapon can
be said to have a nose), and is detonated by ground contact with a ten
foot stand-off probe.

Later,
		"Most human problems can be solved by an appropriate
		 charge of high explosive."
					- Blaster (_UNCOMMON_VALOR_)
	Mark F. Cook

USMail: User Interface Technical Support
	Hewlett-Packard - User Interface Technology Division
	1000 NE Circle Blvd.  Corvallis, OR 97330

INTERNET: markc@hpcvss.cv.hp.com

"The opinions expressed herein are not necessarily those of my employer,
 not necessarily mine, and probably not necessary."


Newsgroups: sci.military