Northrop Grumman Pitches 30,000-Pound Guided Bomb To Air Force

Drudge Report ^ | 12/14/2001 | Matt Drudge

[Pokey78]

Northrop Grumman has briefed Air Force officials on a concept to field a 30,000-pound guided weapon, called 'Big BLU,' that could be used as a penetrator to destroy hardened targets that may house enemy leaders or weapons of mass destruction, DEFENSE DAILY reported on Friday.

The proposal may gain favor with the Pentagon as the military tries to kill Al-Qaeda leaders holed up in Afghan caves. An Air Force official said, however, that the weapon will have significant cost and schedule hurdles associated with aircraft integration, is only a concept and is not envisioned for use during the Afghan conflict.

Developing...

[Redbob]

Seems like we already have far more destructive bombs that don't weigh near as much.

Perhaps we could demo one of them over OBL's hideout?

[Panzerfaust]

I think a 30,000 lb. bomb is a bit small. If you look here! you will see that a suitable bomb was developed in 1944. I've seen this thing in person, and at 18 feet or so in length, it is pretty impressive. Nothing exceeds like excess!

[Hellmouth]

Make it a Fuel Air missile and let it transport itself.

[Hoplite]

This is the 22,000lb. Earthq-Who's your daddy?

Bloody yanks!

Sorry, couldn't resist - point being, we've been down this road before, and have abandoned it for much the same reasons we'll probably give Grumman the "Thanks, but no thanks" on this one, IMO.

[Hoplite]

I hate it when this happens. = )

[Panzerfaust]

LOL, no prob, I liked your picture better, as it shows a man next to the bomb for scale. I have several photos of it, including one with me standing next to it, but alas, my scanner is kaput.

[Darksheare]

Why bother with that? Just strip the guts out of a 747-400 cargo plane. Make it remotely piloted, then pack it with as much explosive as it can carry (quite a bit.. alot more that 30,000 pounds.. Nothrop Grumman, eh? Hmmm..Sorry, idle thoughts. Shoo! Shoo!) Then paint "Fed-Ex" on it along with the words "Happily brought to you by NYPD and FDNY!" I'm sure ol' Achmed the barbarian and Abdul the camel raper will love seeing the plane make it's "Righteous death dive" into their faces...

[hchutch]

Would it be in bad taste to refer to this bomb as a "crowd pleaser?"

[hchutch]

We do have a lot of older airliners that could be used for the job. Perhaps we can also break out some of the planes at AMARC (as long as the Confederate Air Force is allowed to pick out the planes they want to keep as "flying museums").

[Benrand]

The daisy cutter must be working well...

[Mike Darancette]

But isn't there a limit as to how big you can make a wepon that relies on air to burn? If it is fuel/air mixture that gives it its power, wouldn't there be limit to the availablity of air to fuel that kind of expolsion? Just a thought.

You could carry some oxidant within the bomb.

[RetiredArmy]

Actually it would carry the plane and drop the plane on the target and then return home. :>)

[WhiskeyPapa]

I was thinking the same thing. What aircraft has hardpoints that can support that kind of weight? I know some can handle the total weight (F-15) but ALL of that weight on one hard point?

Well, they roll the daisy cutters out the back of a C-130, maybe this boy could be deplyed from a C-17.

That would mean the C-17 could carry a B-17. Wow. (Empty weight of a B-17 being about 15 tons)

Walt

[Darksheare]

The idle thoughts I had were along the lines of: Northrop Grumman builds aircraft. They aren't into making weaponry too much... They're into making remotely piloted aircraft (Predator UAV and other of the type for example) What if they're pitching a UAV that IS the bomb? Hmmm...

[MarketR]

Call me sick, but, man, I would love to see one of those babies go off in a cave, and not just to get the Taliban, I just want to see one go boom! I have witnessed very large high-order test explosions go, but that 30K job in a cave would be a sight to behold!

Go review the pictures of the Mt. St. Helens eruption....

There you go.

[Poohbah]

In that case, Boeing can come back with the U-747 UCAV...a 747 loaded to max gross takeoff with explosives, and GPS guidance. YEE-HAW!

[Paulus Invictus]

Good night no! We want it to work!

[r9etb]

a concept to field a 30,000-pound guided weapon

Sounds like a giant JDAM (guided gravity bomb), rather than the parachute-wielding daisy cutter.

And if it were a shaped charge, I think the combination of "guidedness" and magnitude of explosion would probably kill everybody in the cave, blast doors or not.

[hchutch]

Wow, another crowd pleaser! ;)

Just make sure we save enough of the older planes for the Confederate Air Force. Let `em have a B-52D and a B-52H, plus some examples of the fighters. It would be nice to be able see Thuds, Super Sabres, and other classics fly when I'm old enough for Social Security.