BL755 BL755 is a cluster bomb . Its primary targets are armored vehicle s and tank s with secondary soft target ( anti personnel ) capabilities . Design . The BL755 looks like a standard general purpose bomb but with a hard " saddle " on the spine for ejector release and crutching pad loads and a distinctive large turbine - like air arming vane on the nose . The four rear fins are squared off in appearance , but on closer inspection can be seen to be hollow and telescopic . A central extrude d aluminum skeleton provides seven bays long by seven bays around , each containing 21 submunition s ( 147 total ) . The submunitions are ejected by means of a central cartridge and individual inflatable bladders for each bay , operating in a similar manner to a car airbag . Ejection on the original BL755 bomb is triggered by the rotation of the arming vane , driven by the airflow . Each submunition is contained within its own SAFU ( safety and arming unit ) and is telescoped shut . Upon release , the submunition is expanded by a spring . A focal distance stand off and detonating device deploys at the front and a fan of stabilising fins at the rear . Each has a shaped charge HEAT warhead for armour penetration , the casing of which is constructed from wound tessellated square wire , which produces around 1 , 400 anti - personnel fragments . A single cluster bomb produces a total of more than two hundred thousand fragments . The weapon was developed in the early 1970s by Hunting Engineering , Ltd . of Ampthill , Bedfordshire but manufactured elsewhere at their production facility . Updates . The original BL755 has been updated twice . IBL755 is a bomblet update , increasing its reliability and armour penetration . RBL755 is the BL755 weapon fitted with a radar altimeter that acts as a proximity fuze , triggering bomblet ejection at the optimum altitude whilst allowing the bomb to be released from a safe height and distance . This was in response to the dangers illustrated by low - level Panavia Tornado missions in the 1991 Gulf War ; the original vane - armed BL755 had to be released at a pre - determined low altitude , with the attacking aircraft exposed to ground fire and light surface - to - air missiles . Deployment . The bomb is cleared for use by the Tornado aircraft in the British Royal Air Force . United Kingdom . The BL755 was used in combat by the Royal Navy during the Falklands War , and the RAF during the Gulf War and Bosnian War . Yugoslavia . On the night of 21 October 1991 , a Yugoslavian Soko J - 22 Orao mistakenly dropped two BL - 755 Mk . 3 bombs on the outskirts of Barcs , a small city in southernmost part of Hungary , causing extensive material damage , but no casualties . The incident led to an emergency upgrade of the Hungarian Air Force , which obtained 28 new MiG - 29 B fighter jets in exchange for a write - off of ex - Soviet state debt . The Hungarian government also invited NATO ' s E - 3 AWACS planes to patrol over the Lake Balaton area , keeping a constant radar eye on the Balkan civil war theatre . Zimbabwe . The Air Force of Zimbabwe ' s BAE Hawk s were armed with BL755s , which were used against the Rwandan , Ugandan and Congolese rebel forces during the early stages of the Second Congo War , in support of Congolese leader Laurent Kabila . Iran . The Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force heavily used BL755 cluster bombs on Iraqi troop and armor concentrations during the Iran - Iraq War . They were carried by the F - 5E , F - 5F , F - 4D and F - 4E Phantoms .