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Government
Air Force awards nearly $900 million for new bunker buster bombs
2018-06-30
[UPI] The U.S. Air Force has awarded nearly $900 million to two companies for new bunker buster bombs.

The deals, announced Wednesday by the Department of Defense, come under indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contracts for BLU-137/B penetrator warhead production.

Superior Forge and Steel Corp. of Lima, Ohio, was awarded a $476 million contract and A. Finkl & Sons Co. of Chicago was awarded a $419 million contract for production of the bunker busters during the next five years.

The new 2,000-pound class bombs are built around an improved warhead called the BLU-137/B, which will replace existing weapons that have already been a key element in the fight against ISIS.

The new bunker buster bombs will be less likely to fail to explode than those currently being used in Iraq and Syria. The U.S. Air Force wrote in its 2018 fiscal budget that the BLU-137 will "increase fuze survivability when used against bunkers, aircraft shelters, and reinforced targets" so it will more reliably explode after punching through its target.
Posted by:Besoeker

#8  Seems to me that the answer is not 'bigger' but a series of precisely timed 'shaped charges' where each follows the previous one in the time between excavation of rubble and the falling of that rubble back into the crater. Kind of like pushing a kid on a swing, in small increments, or like constructive interference of waves.
Posted by: Glenmore   2018-06-30 18:25  

#7  gorb, I think the Geneva Conventions have something to say about that.
Posted by: AlanC   2018-06-30 08:35  

#6  Speak loudly and carry an even bigger stick.
Posted by: Procopius2k   2018-06-30 07:56  

#5  indefinite-quantity contracts

I'm only on the first cup of coffee, and man, that line brought a smile to my face. As long as the ayatollahs have the opposite reaction...
Posted by: Raj   2018-06-30 05:33  

#4  Keeps Superior Forge and Steel going and also sends a message to the NORKS and Iran. Money well spent.
Posted by: Besoeker   2018-06-30 05:14  

#3  Wonder who that contractor was and why a new batch was ordered.
Posted by: Skidmark 2018-06-30 03:54

Skid,

Actually not so much a matter of bad bombs as better tech - remember that a bunker buster has to go through a considerable distance of dirt, concrete, steel, and other impediments before exploding, and it takes a heck of a beating before getting there. A better bunker buster (say that three times quickly) with improved steel and electronics (better to survive that short, exciting trip) is more likely to survive and go off just where and when we want it to, not to mention increasing your options as to what you can hit. The BLU-137 they mention is actually an upgraded version (still uses the same basic shape and explosives filler) of the old BLU-109, which entered service in the mid-80s and has done very, very well for us - but the bad guys' bunker tech has advanced over time, and we're doing the right thing by upping our game as well.

Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski   2018-06-30 05:06  

#2  The new bunker buster bombs will be less likely to fail to explode than those currently being used

There's a batch in the inventory that don't go BOOM? Wonder who that contractor was and why a new batch was ordered.
Posted by: Skidmark   2018-06-30 03:54  

#1  Just drop Rosie O'Donnell on whatever it is.
Posted by: gorb   2018-06-30 03:40  

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