Posted on 10/11/2001 1:16:05 PM PDT by al_possum39
In an AP article by KATHY GANNON and AMIR SHAH, Associated Press Writers titled U.S. Jets Strike Kabul in Daylight, the statement is made "Huge detonations accompanied by a howling wind could also be heard Thursday evening from the Afghan side of the border in the Pakistani frontier town of Chaman, about 70 miles south of Kandahar."
Not a bad title.
My wife already has dibs on that one to describe what happens when I go to the bathroom...
http://dfair.virtualave.net/bombs/blu82.htm
The BLU-82B/C-130 weapon system, nicknamed Commando Vault, is the high altitude delivery of a 15,000 pound general purpose bomb from a C-130. This system depends upon the accurate positioning of the aircraft by either a fixed ground radar or onboard navigation equipment. The ground radar controller or aircrew navigator as applicable, is responsible for positioning the aircraft prior to final countdown and release. Primary aircrew considerations include accurate ballistic and wind computations provided by the navigator, and precision instrument flying with strict adherence to controller instructions. The minimum altitude for release due to blast effects of the weapon is 6,000 feet AGL.
The BLU-82 is a 15,000 pound GP bomb originally designed to clear helicopter landing zones in Vietnam. The warhead contains 12,600 pounds of GSX slurry and is detonated just above ground level by a 38-inch fuze extender. The weapon produces an overpressure of 1,000 pounds per square inch. Eleven BLU-82s were dropped during Desert Storm, all from Special Operations C-130s. The initial drops were intended to test the ability of the bomb to clear mines; no reliable bomb damage assessment exist on mine clearing effectiveness. Later, bombs were dropped as much for their psychological effect as for their destructive power.
If you're close enough, pretty much all of 'em.
Damn straight! We used to smut old ordinance at Eglin and you could feel the concussion at 2 miles. We even had some very large shrapnel hit trees behind us one mission. You should have seen these old civil servants trying to get thier huge a$$es under a truck when we heard the whistle-whump-whump heading toward us! I LMAO every time I think of that scene.
Primarily because the top 12 inches of top soil for a several hundred yard radius were blown into the the next province.
It's probably just the winds of change. BinLard predicted those, didn't he?
LOL, well said my friend. For those that don't quite understand SGCOS post, the 2000LB bomb that the info babes keep refering to is the MK-84 , which weighs 1,972 lbs. and contains 945 lbs. of explosive filler. The bomb is 12 feet 8 inches in length and has a diameter of 18 inches. Depending on the fuse options, delivery requirements (guided or dumb, high or low altitude delivery, etc.) the weight and effect can vary considerably.
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