Posted on 11/05/2001 5:47:46 PM PST by Lady In Blue
Nov 5, 2001
WASHINGTON (AP) - With its use of the 15,000-pound "daisy cutter" bomb in Afghanistan, the United States has unleashed one of its most powerful weapons - billed as the world's largest conventional bomb.
The BLU-82 combines a watery mixture of ammonium nitrate and aluminum with air, then ignites the mist for a huge explosion that incinerates everything within up to 600 yards. The shock wave can be felt miles away.
The BLU-82 uses about six times the amount of ammonium nitrate explosive that Timothy McVeigh used in the bomb that blew up the Oklahoma City federal building in 1995.
First created during the Vietnam War to quickly clear jungle landing zones, the daisy cutter also was used against Iraqi troops during the Gulf War. Reports from the ground in Afghanistan indicate the huge bombs have been used against front-line Taliban positions.
The bombs cost about $27,000 each. They are dropped from a C-130 cargo plane flying at least 6,000 feet off the ground, to avoid the bomb's massive shock wave. Each is more than 17 feet long and 5 feet in diameter - about the size of a Volkswagen Beetle but far heavier.
AP-ES-11-05-01 2047EST
This story can be found at : http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGA6ASS1PTC.html
Impressive. For comparison, even a 10-20 psi overpressure can utterly demolish concrete buildings.
.....another O-B-E joke.....
......ha HA....I Love It !! !! !! !!
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I'd have bet money on the Ford Mustang...
...or the Ford Pinto, at least {;-p
Those things are a wreck, just a-waitin' for a tree to hit....
As long as we're talking '58 Buicks here, might as well make it a deuce-and-a-quarter.
WASHINGTON (AP) - With its use of the 15,000-pound "daisy cutter" bomb in Afghanistan, the United States has unleashed one of its most powerful weapons - billed as the world's largest conventional bomb.
The BLU-82 combines a watery mixture of ammonium nitrate and aluminum with air, then ignites the mist for a huge explosion that incinerates everything within up to 600 yards. The shock wave can be felt miles away.
The BLU-82 uses about six times the amount of ammonium nitrate explosive that Timothy McVeigh used in the bomb that blew up the Oklahoma City federal building in 1995.
This report is all wrong. The bomb uses ammonium nitate and fuel oil, a mixture call ANFO. Aluminum powder is known to increase the power of ammonium nitrate and may have been used by Timothy McVeigh, but isn't a component of the BLU-82. The explosive doesn't mix with the air before detonation. It's called a daisy cutter because of the 5ft fuze extender, which detonates the bomb above ground, minimizing the crater, and maximizing the horizonal blast. And so it blasts all the vegitation away, hence daisy cutter. Fuel air explosive bombs, on the other hand do mix with air before detonation. FAE bombs are also useful in clearing landing zones, due to their high blast.
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Punny !! !! !!
...just wish that I'd thought of it.....
....I'll take Confederate Humor, fer 800, Alex......
YEP!
A 'Home-School' version, as a Science Project, uses a 'Steel Wool' pad - unrolled - and lighted with a match/lighter.
Makes an impressive show - serves three.....
How many mufflers is that? We've got to put it in words that the Dummocrats (Daschle) understands.
I hope those two guys, in the lower right, brought along their sun-screen....
Moral: When the biggest guy with the biggest stick talks only a fool will refuse to listen.
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