Posted on 03/11/2003 7:02:30 AM PST by pechuna
The new superbomb is an upgrade of an already devastating weapon used by the Americans against al Qaeda and the Taliban.
*Nicknamed Big Blue, it contains 21,000lb of conventional high explosive, an increase from the 15,000lb BLU-82 "daisy cutter" used at least four times on tunnels and caves in Afghanistan.
* It was originally designed to clear helicopter-landing zones in Vietnam and works by detonating a few feet above ground level and destroying everything in its path.
* The warhead is packed with Gelled Slurry Explosive, which is detonated with a high explosive booster. The slurry is poured into the bomb's casing which is then loaded on to a plane and launched by parachute at 6,000ft.
* Eleven BLU-82s were dropped during the first Gulf War, according to some experts "as much for their psychological effect as their destructive power".
I hate that song....
30,000 lbs. Man oh man, That's a lot of banannas.
Just an FYI, for people who've never heard of this stuff:
Patent 4324599
Navy case 61135
Date 04-13-82
Inventor(s) Kenneth Range William Irwin Dr. Russell Reed
Gelled Slurry Explosive
An explosive slurry containing red water, a nitrocellulose containing propellant, oxidizer, passivated aluminum and a thickening agent.
Just the thing for those precise surgical strikes to minimize the number of civilian casualties when you don't want to make more enemies than you kill.
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