Bullpup missiles
Posted on 03/02/2010 12:36:09 AM PST by ErnstStavroBlofeld
The Dragon’s Jaw bridge at Thanh Hoa was the toughest target in North Vietnam. It was 540 feet long and crossed the Song Ma, a river 70 miles south of Hanoi. A railroad track ran down the middle, with a highway lane on either side. The bridge rested on a massive center pillar of reinforced concrete, 16 feet in diameter. The abutments were solidly anchored in the hills on both sides of the river.
This bridge was a replacement for the original one built by the French before World War II. Viet Minh insurgents managed to destroy the first bridge in 1945 by staging a collision in the center of it by two locomotives loaded with explosives. North Vietnamese leader Ho Chi Minh presided at the opening of the new—and stronger—bridge in 1964. At the outset of the Vietnam War, the US Joint Chiefs of Staff rated the Dragon’s Jaw as No. 14 on the list of the most important targets in North Vietnam. It carried the only railroad in the North Vietnamese panhandle and was a key link in the supply route supporting the war in the south. When the Rolling Thunder air campaign began in 1965, the bridge was selected for early attack.
On April 3, 1965, Lt. Col. Robinson Risner led a strike force of almost 80 aircraft from bases in Vietnam and Thailand against the Dragon’s Jaw. The actual attack was conducted by 31 F-105s from Korat Air Base in Thailand, half of them carrying Bullpup missiles and half with 750-pound general-purpose bombs.
Planners had expected the attack to drop the bridge. However, neither the missiles nor the bombs caused any appreciable damage. One pilot said the Bullpups, which had lightweight 250-pound warheads, simply “bounced off” the target.
(Excerpt) Read more at airforce-magazine.com ...
BUMP for later reading...
Zot marked.
The Azon series were the first US guided bombs to be used operationally. The VB-1 Azon - short for ‘Azimuth Only’ - was a radio command link controlled tailkit attached to a standard M44 and later AN-M65 1,000 lb bomb body. The Azon entered production in 1943, after earlier development by USAAC’s Air Technical Service Command.
The Azon used an annular tail assembly like the Fritz-X, was roll stabilised like the Fritz-X, but could only be steered in azimuth and thus it range error on delivery was similar to a dumb bomb. The Azon guidance package was limited to five preset radio channels, limiting the number of concurrent drops during a raid.
The Azon kit was produced until November, 1944, by which time 15,000 units were built. It was deployed in the ETO from February, 1944, and used extensively in Burma for bridge dropping strikes. The 15th AF in the Mediterranean is credited with Azon attacks on the Danube river locks, and the Avisio viaduct. In Burma, Azons were used to destroy 27 bridges using 493 rounds, including the famous Kwai River bridge. . . (MORE)
Thanks for the articles!
Thanks Don, good Mil-Std post for the Ides of March!
From the url:
‘Use of smart weapons reached a new high in Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003, when 68 percent of the munitions were guided. Of these, 22.4 percent were JDAMs and 29.5 percent were laser-guided bombs. The new era of accuracy led to a redefinition of precision-guided munitions. To qualify as a “precision” weapon, a munition must be capable of hitting within three meters, or less than 10 feet, of the aim point. Thus JDAM is rated as “near precision.””
No Problem
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