BC-130 with BLU-82:
Posted on 06/26/2018 1:50:07 PM PDT by Eddie01
The US Air Force is seeking to modify its B-52 Stratofortress heavy bombers to accommodate carrying and delivering the so-called “mother of all bombs,” a creative nickname given to the Massive Ordnance Air Blast (MOAB) weapon, according to a new report.
The bomb made waves last April when a US military plane dropped a GBU-43/B MOAB on an allegedly Daesh-run terrorist camp in Afghanistan. The bomb is regarded as the most powerful non-nuclear bomb in the US weapons arsenal. April 13, 2017, marked the first employment of the bomb in combat.
The Air Force is seeking information from industry regarding "sources that may possess the expertise, capabilities and experience to meet the qualification requirement" to deploy the bombs onto the B-52, one of the oldest pieces of military equipment still used by the US, according to a Request For Information released June 21.
When the weapon was dropped in 2017, air crews simply released the bomb from a cradle within a C-130 cargo plane, letting gravity and Global Positioning System-satellite guidance do the rest of the work.
The Stratofortress planes have "limitations" when it comes to carrying heavy weapons beneath its wings, according to the RFI, which require modifications to carry munitions heavier than 5,000 pounds. B-52s typically carry most of their weapons in an internal weapons bay, but the bay doors are only 28 feet long and the MOAB is 30 feet long.
"When [the current external weapons pylon] was introduced, there wasn't a requirement nor did anyone foresee a need to carry weapons heavier than 5,000 lb," the document noted.
US Air Force Working on Baby ‘Mother of All Bombs’ The new external weapons pylon will need to carry "multiple weapons in the 5,000 to 20,000 lb weight class," the military procurement document says. Each MOAB clocks in right around 20,000 pounds.
As reported by Sputnik News, in the realm of non-nuclear weapons, Russia's "Father of All Bombs," a thermobaric explosive, has a power of 88,000 pounds of TNT, roughly four times the destructive capability of MOAB. MOAB is also a thermobaric weapon, or fuel air explosive, which uses dispersed fuel to create a volatile air mixture that generates a colossal percussive air blast upon detonation.
B-52s can also carry nuclear weapons, which, ironically enough, are much smaller than the MOAB yet thousands of times more powerful. The B53 thermonuclear bomb, which the B-52 could carry two of, only weighed around 8,850 lbs each, according to the Nuclear Weapons Databook.
So unfortunate that one was lost at Fairchild AFB, along with the crew, due to airshow clowning (flying the aircraft beyond design limits). 1994.
Too true! But the selfless radioman knows no report of a sinking/no coördinates=no rescue=few/no survivors. I should be so brave.
Plenty of ships sink without turtling, especially if they hole deeply and take water fast. My opinion is, though I am not a naval architect, that it is the heavy superstructures of so many famous WWII era warships and the great amount of footage we see of their sinkings that convinces us all ships 'fall' as they sink. To be sure, there are also the top-heavy cruise-ships, invariably captained by Italians, that make such a fuss. But per tonne? I am not so sure.
Excellent point! Guns and armor plate are heavy. I need to, as Ayn Rand would say, check my premises.
Thanks!
Flatten Tora Bora just to show we can.
I believe Tall Boys can be seen at Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland.
It’s funny but for months, maybe as much as a year, before that place made the headlines, I kept thinking OBL was in Bora Bora!
Man, one of those MOABs could ruin your whole day...
For eternity...
The recent MOAB drop in Afghanistan did more than make waves. It silenced an entire daesh base, tunnels, buildings, people, donkeys.
Man, one of those MOABs could ruin your whole day...
For eternity...
Well terrorists? Do ya?
Make our day!!!
I lived in Ft. Worth in 1988 and early ‘89. The B-52s would fly almost directly overhead of my apartment on Branchwood Trail as they approached the runway. I could almost count the rivets on the planes. As noisy as they were, it was a wonderful sound to hear; e.g., the sound of freedom.
Reading the wikipedia entry just now I learned several things I didn’t know before, such as the pilot might have been banking steeply to avoid flying over a nuclear weapons storage facility. But the pilot had some history, too.
BC-130 with BLU-82:
B53 bunker buster yield: 9 megatons
Can you imagine this used in combination with the “rods from God”?
Talk about the ultimate terror weapon.
“US Plans to Arm B-52 With ‘Mother of All Bombs’”
I volunteer to come out of retirement and be a targeting officer!
“US Plans to Arm B-52 With ‘Mother of All Bombs’”
I volunteer to come out of retirement and be a targeting officer!
There was a reason for that. Mostly to minimize loss and avoid amplifier or repeater distortion. I once worked for a telecom company, supporting sales. We were on a single-digit floor of a skyscraper. The switch room was about 50 floors above us, so that it was closer to the microwave antennas on the roof.
Obviously, once digital and fiber, it's no longer a requirement.
“Daisy Cutter”
And BLEVE bombs...FOAB.
The slurry settles, and probably hardens.
The ones used in Afghanistan were put into storage in the 80’s.
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