Precision guided BLU-129 Bomb
increasingly in demand by war zone
commanders. So accurate, lethal and precise it is
called the world's largest sniper
accuracy. The often requested weapon described as
an adaptable carbon fiber bomb is
specially engineered to control, field
effects and create low collateral damage
resulting from air attacks.
The air force is currently producing BLU-129 Bomb bodies to address
operational demand, captain Hope Cronin
air force spokeswoman, told Warrior Maven.
The BLU-129 is increasingly in demand
because among other things it is capable
of quickly tailoring its explosive
charge depending upon the threat, using
what's called variable yield effects. Variable yield effects allow for
attackers to adjust the explosive power
while inflate in some cases enabling
extremely effective, yet precise more
narrowly configured attacks.
There are limited numbers of this weapon
and we want to hold on to it for those
missions which need to have only that
capability, Colonel Gary Haas Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) told Warrior Maven in an interview last fall at an
air force association symposium.
Developing what air force engineers call
flight selectability is an essential
element of this, as it will enable
dynamic combat targeting to adapt while
an aircraft is airborne. This can be done with a range of
technologies to enable improved
precision with multi-mode energetics and
specialized structures engineered into
the warhead.
The BLU-129 is described as
having innovations called adapted
effects design with a contained lethal
radius, yet precise and substantial
destructive ability. This allows a much reduced size of
warhead with the same kill capability,
Major General Larry Stutzriem USAF (ret.), former fighter pilot and current
director of research for the mitchell
institute said AFA in september of last
year. Stutzriem characterized an explosive
envelope as a combination of heat blast
and fragmentation. There is a compelling needed for a new
regime of munitions for expanded effects, according to haas.
Given that combat war fighters
discovered more applications for the
weapon beyond things it was initially
built to do. The air force has been
restarting production of the BLU-129
weapon. Accelerated production of the BLU-129 represents a significant
element of an ongoing air force
initiative to build increased attack
flexibility within an individual warhead
by adjusting timing, blast effect and
detonation. We want to have options and flexibility
so we can take out this one person with
a hit to kill munition or crank it up
and take out a truck or a wide area, hostile warrior maven.
A vendor which makes some of the warhead
casing, aerojet rocketdyne provides some
technical detail about how the weapon
achieves its precision. These weapons use carbon fiber wound
construction of the warhead casing, provided by aerojet rocketdyne. A carbon fiber wound bomb body
disintegrates instead of fragmenting
which adds explosive force nearby, but
lowers collateral damage, a statement
from aerojet rocketdyne says.
Haas explained multi-mode energetics as
a need to engineer a single warhead to
leverage advanced, smart fuse, technology
to adjust the blast effect. These kinds of technical advances
wherein munitions can be adjusted
inflate is inspiring new thinking when
it comes to concepts of operations newer targeting and explosive yield
variation naturally changes the types of
attack missions falling within the realm
of the possible.
For instance, combat circumstances are
very fast moving often changing
dramatically in minutes even seconds. For this reason adaptable effects better
synchronize attacks with intelligence, reconnaissance and surveillance by
enabling pilots to quicken the kill
chain and make faster decisions while
tracking moving targets, senior air force
weapons developers explain.
Haas explained that the BLU-129 brings
additional elements of attack
flexibility because instead of traveling
with both very large, heavier bombs. A pilot can simply drop four BLU-129s on
a target to increase blast.
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