Me wage ekak wadila thamai eeye Prabhaharan marune 
(Last vid is too noisy)
During the 1991 Gulf war, allied forces knew of several underground military bunkers in Iraq that were so well reinforced and so deeply buried that they were out of reach of existing munitions. The U.S. Air Force started an intense research and development process to create a new bunker-busting bomb to reach and destroy these bunkers. In just a few weeks, a prototype was created. This new bomb had the following features:
[/FONT] The finished bomb, known as the GBU-28 or the BLU-113, is 19 feet (5.8 meters) long, 14.5 inches (36.8 cm) in diameter and weighs 4,400 pounds (1,996 kg).
From the description in the previous section, you can see that the concept behind bunker-busting bombs like the GBU-28 is nothing but basic physics. You have:
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[SIZE=-2]Photos courtesy U.S. Department of Defense[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]An F-117 Nighthawk engages its target and drops a bunker buster during a testing mission at Hill Air Force Base, Utah.[/SIZE]
[/FONT] When the bomb hits the earth, it is like a massive nail shot from a nail gun. In tests, the GBU-28 has penetrated 100 feet (30.5 meters) of earth or 20 feet (6 meters) of concrete.
In a typical mission, intelligence sources or aerial/satellite images reveal the location of the bunker. A GBU-28 is loaded into a B2 Stealth bomber, an F-111 or similar aircraft.
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[SIZE=-2]Photo courtesy U.S. Department of Defense[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]An F-15E Strike Eagle pilot and a weapons system officer inspect a GBU-28 laser-guided bomb.[/SIZE]
[/FONT] The bomber flies near the target, the target is illuminated and the bomb is dropped.
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[SIZE=-2]Photo courtesy U.S. Department of Defense[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Air-to-air view of GBU-28 hard target bomb on an F-15E Eagle[/SIZE]
[/FONT] The GBU-28 has in the past been fitted with a delay fuze (FMU-143) so that it explodes after penetration rather than on impact. There has also been a good bit of research into smart fuzes that, using a microprocessor and an accelerometer, can actually detect what is happening during penetration and explode at precisely the right time. These fuses are known as hard target smart fuzes (HTSF). See GlobalSecurity.org: HTSF for details.
The GBU-27/GBU-24 (aka BLU-109) is nearly identical to the GBU-28, except that it weighs only 2,000 pounds (900 kg). It is less expensive to manufacture, and a bomber can carry more of them on each mission.
Source: www.howstuffworks.com
(Last vid is too noisy)
During the 1991 Gulf war, allied forces knew of several underground military bunkers in Iraq that were so well reinforced and so deeply buried that they were out of reach of existing munitions. The U.S. Air Force started an intense research and development process to create a new bunker-busting bomb to reach and destroy these bunkers. In just a few weeks, a prototype was created. This new bomb had the following features:
- Its casing consists of an approximately 16-foot (5-meter) section of artillery barrel that is 14.5 inches (37 cm) in diameter. Artillery barrels are made of extremely strong hardened steel so that they can withstand the repeated blasts of artillery shells when they are fired.
- Inside this steel casing is nearly 650 pounds (295 kg) of tritonal explosive. Tritonal is a mixture of TNT (80 percent) and aluminum powder (20 percent). The aluminum improves the brisance of the TNT -- the speed at which the explosive develops its maximum pressure. The addition of aluminum makes tritonal about 18 percent more powerful than TNT alone.
- Attached to the front of the barrel is a laser-guidance assembly. Either a spotter on the ground or in the bomber illuminates the target with a laser, and the bomb homes in on the illuminated spot. The guidance assembly steers the bomb with fins that are part of the assembly.
- Attached to the end of the barrel are stationary fins that provide stability during flight.
[/FONT] The finished bomb, known as the GBU-28 or the BLU-113, is 19 feet (5.8 meters) long, 14.5 inches (36.8 cm) in diameter and weighs 4,400 pounds (1,996 kg).
From the description in the previous section, you can see that the concept behind bunker-busting bombs like the GBU-28 is nothing but basic physics. You have:
- An extremely strong tube that is:
- very narrow for its weight
- extremely heavy
[FONT=arial,helvetica]
[/FONT]
[FONT=arial,helvetica]
[/FONT]
[FONT=arial,helvetica]
[SIZE=-2]Photos courtesy U.S. Department of Defense[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]An F-117 Nighthawk engages its target and drops a bunker buster during a testing mission at Hill Air Force Base, Utah.[/SIZE]
[/FONT] When the bomb hits the earth, it is like a massive nail shot from a nail gun. In tests, the GBU-28 has penetrated 100 feet (30.5 meters) of earth or 20 feet (6 meters) of concrete.
In a typical mission, intelligence sources or aerial/satellite images reveal the location of the bunker. A GBU-28 is loaded into a B2 Stealth bomber, an F-111 or similar aircraft.
[FONT=arial,helvetica]
[SIZE=-2]Photo courtesy U.S. Department of Defense[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]An F-15E Strike Eagle pilot and a weapons system officer inspect a GBU-28 laser-guided bomb.[/SIZE]
[/FONT] The bomber flies near the target, the target is illuminated and the bomb is dropped.
[FONT=arial,helvetica]
[SIZE=-2]Photo courtesy U.S. Department of Defense[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Air-to-air view of GBU-28 hard target bomb on an F-15E Eagle[/SIZE]
[/FONT] The GBU-28 has in the past been fitted with a delay fuze (FMU-143) so that it explodes after penetration rather than on impact. There has also been a good bit of research into smart fuzes that, using a microprocessor and an accelerometer, can actually detect what is happening during penetration and explode at precisely the right time. These fuses are known as hard target smart fuzes (HTSF). See GlobalSecurity.org: HTSF for details.
The GBU-27/GBU-24 (aka BLU-109) is nearly identical to the GBU-28, except that it weighs only 2,000 pounds (900 kg). It is less expensive to manufacture, and a bomber can carry more of them on each mission.
Source: www.howstuffworks.com
