Army ‘vacuum’ missile hits Taliban [UK Army]

[LogansPapa]

I’m sorry you can’t see the basic logic.

Perhaps you can explain why, say when an enemy’s car is blown apart like a beer can in the middle of a crowded street, via a missile from one of our helicopters, the armed forces in Israel don’t make a big deal out of the extermination. Maybe we should show Special Forces in real-time on pay-per-view?

You’re a silly knob - and that’s not my fault.

[megimoo]

I’m sorry you can’t see the basic logic.

Perhaps you can explain why, say when an enemy’s car is blown apart like a beer can in the middle of a crowded street, via a missile from one of our helicopters, the armed forces in Israel don’t make a big deal out of the extermination. Maybe we should show Special Forces in real-time on pay-per-view?

You’re a silly knob - and that’s not my fault.

Change your sox libber your feet stink !

[LogansPapa]

You really have an addiction for being bitch-slapped, don’t you?

[megimoo]

You really have an addiction for being bitch-slapped, don’t you?

You are just the 'bitch' to do it .Don't go and take yourself too seriously Bozo none of the rest of us do !

[LogansPapa]

You are just the 'bitch' to do it .Don't go and take yourself too seriously Bozo none of the rest of us do !

That's MR. BOZO to you Sir.

[megimoo]

You really have an addiction for being bitch-slapped, don’t you?

BLU-118/B Thermobaric Weapon

The BLU-118/B nomenclature was first reported on 21 December 2001, and this weapon is clearly unrelated to the BLU-118 500 lb. napalm canister used during the Vietnam war.

The BLU-118/B is a penetrating warhead filled with an advanced thermobaric explosive that, when detonated, generates higher sustained blast pressures in confined spaces such as tunnels and underground facilities.

The BLU-118/B uses the same penetrator body as the standard BLU-109 weapon. The significant difference is the replacement of the high explosive fill with a new thermobaric explosive that provides increased lethality in confined spaces.

The BLU-118/B warhead uses a Fuze Munition Unit (FMU)-143J/B to initiate the explosive. The FMU-143 fuze has been modified with a new booster and a 120-millisecond delay. All weapon guidance systems and employment options currently used with the BLU-109 warhead are compatible with the new BLU-118/B warhead.

BLU-118/B payload candidates included PBXIH-135 [one of the Navy's new insensitive polymer bonded explosives], HAS-13, or SFAE [solid fuel air explosive] loaded into existing BLU-109 Weapon Bodies. Conventional high explosives (CHE) are characterized by a sensitivity to mechanical or thermal energy. Insensitive high explosives (IHE), on the other hand, require extraordinarily high stimuli before violent reaction occurs. Insensitive explosives reliably fulfil their performance, readiness and operational requirements on demand, but the violence of response to unplanned hazardous stimuli is restricted to an acceptable level.

This means that when a munition is in a fire, hit by a fragment, bullet or high velocity projectile or subject to some other hazard the result will not be a detonation or a violent reaction of the explosive and propellant; no more than severe burning will ocur [such a deflagration is an exothermic reaction that occurs particle to particle at subsonic speed]. Some insensitive explosives are known to react in a different way to conventional explosives. For instance, detonation reactions are slower but more energy is released in a way that has the potential to produce a lot more damage.

The BLU-118/B bomb body can be attached to a variety of laser guidance system packages, including the GBU-15, GBU-24, GBU-27, and GBU-28 laser guided bombs, as well as the AGM-130 missiles.

BLU-118B weapon operational concepts include vertical delivery with the bomb detonated at or just outside portal, skip bomb with short fuse (1st or second contact), skip bomb with long fuse (penetrate door, max distance down adit), and vertical delivery to penetrate overburden and detonate inside the tunnel adit.

Class Bomb Live Unit (BLU)-118/B Thermobaric Warhead
The BLU-118B was successfully tested at the Nevada Test Site on 14 December 2001. During that test, a Guided Bomb Unit (GBU)-24 laser-guided weapon using the BLU-118B warhead was dropped from an F-15E attack aircraft. The laser-guided bomb was "skipped" into a tunnel and exploded with a delayed fuze, which produced a significant growth in overpressure and temperature in the tunnel. When compared to the standard BLU-109 explosive, results showed the new thermobaric weapon generated a significant improvement in overpressure and pressure-impulse in the tunnel complex. The test culminated a two-month accelerated effort to rapidly transition a developmental explosive to improve lethality against underground facilities. DTRA weaponized and delivered (within 60 days) 10 thermobaric-filled air delivered munitions (BLU-118B) designed to enhance lethality in tunnel environments. Specifications
Guidance GBU-15
GBU-24
AGM-130

Total Weight (lbs.) ~ 1975
Length (in.) 98.5
Diameter (in.) 14.5
Explosive Weight (lbs.) ~ 560
Fuze FMU-143
Aircraft F-15E

[LogansPapa]

Yeah? So what? Is all that anything we haven't already seen on 'FutureWeapons?'

[megimoo]

Yeah? So what? Is all that anything we haven't already seen on 'FutureWeapons?'

M1060 40mm Thermobaric Grenade

The XM1060 40mm Thermobaric Grenade, developed and fielded by Picatinny within a four-month span, is the very first small arms thermobaric device released to a US war theatre. It is applauded as a critical tool for military operations in urban terrain and close-quarters cave applications.

"An e-mail from Maj. Gen. John Vines, commanding general, Combined Joint Task Force 180, made it all worthwhile. "We love it," he wrote. "We want more! The rounds work wonderfully in caves; they are quite effective. We want a boatload."

Thermobaric cartridges provide soldiers with a significantly greater probability of kill/incapacitation within the effective radius. Thermobaric cartridges provide soldiers with a significantly greater probability of kill/incapacitation within the effective radius. The lethality effect results from a thermobaric overpressure blast rather than fragmentation. As a result of the thermobaric reaction, all enemy personnel within the effective radius will suffer lethal effects as opposed to the conventional fragmentation round.

Picatinny Arsenal, N.J.-The Armaments Research, Development and Engineering Center's Program Manager-Soldier Weapons responded to an urgent request for 40mm thermobaric cartridges in five months-an unprecedented response time from development to fielding. Program Executive Office-Soldier Commander Col. James R. Moran challenged the PM-SW office in November 2002 to produce 40mm thermobaric cartridges within four to six months.

In order to meet the short deadline, it was decided to use existing 40mm ammunition components. The 40mm 550 fuze, the M195 cartridge case and a modified version of the M583 projectile body was used along with a YJ-05 thermobaric mix (a proprietary mix from contractor Ensign Bickford). Its performance in a smaller caliber was unknown. Brought into the development were Ensign Bickford Aerospace and Defense and Milan Army Ammunition Plant for loading, assembling and packaging.

Along with several other accomplishments, the TACOM-ARDEC team expedited the design modification, preparation of Interim Hazard Classifications, the safety assessment report and completion of required energetic material testing. Milan loaded, assembled and packed 1,518 cartridges, fired 22 to see if they worked, shipped 308 to Aberdeen Proving Ground, Md., for safety release testing and prepared the rest for shipment. By April 8, all tests had been completed and the cartridge had passed all tests. Milan had all the cartridges ready for shipment.

Although Maj. Gen. James D. Thurman, director of training, Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff, decided that the rounds would not be needed for the original urgent request for Operation Iraqi Freedom, he decided the cartridges could be used for the continuing war on terrorism.

On 22 April 2003, PM-SW received an urgent need from the Combined Joint Task Force-the rounds would now be used in Afghanistan. The rounds were shipped on April 30. An e-mail from Maj. Gen. John Vines, commanding general, Combined Joint Task Force 180, made it all worthwhile. "We love it," he wrote. "We want more! The rounds work wonderfully in caves; they are quite effective. We want a boatload." In five short months, these cartridges were developed, tested and produced, and are now being used in the war on terrorism in Afghanistan. More are in the works.
http://www.globalsecurity.org/milita...ions/m1060.htm