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Iraq
Baghdad: B-52s drop new cluster bombs on Iraqi tanks
2003-04-02
U.S. B-52 bombers dropped six new precision-guided 1,000-pound (454 kg) "cluster" bombs on an Iraqi tank column defending Baghdad, the U.S. military said on Wednesday. The U.S. Central Command's air component command said the CBU-105 bombs, which each dispense a number of armor-destroying bomblets, were dropped on Tuesday for the first time ever "to stop an Iraqi tank column from continuing its route" toward American troops fighting the Iraqi Republican Guards.
The CBU-105 is the new version that corrects for wind drift. It's full of these little jewels:
The Sensor Fuzed Weapon [SFW] is an unpowered, top attack, wide area, cluster munition, designed to achieve multiple kills per aircraft pass against enemy armor and support vehicles. After release, the TMD opens and dispenses the ten submunitions which are parachute stabilized. Each of the 10 BLU-108/B submunitions contains four armor-penetrating projectiles with infrared sensors to detect armored targets. At a preset altitude sensed by a radar altimeter, a rocket motor fires to spin the submunition and initiate an ascent. The submunition then releases its four projectiles, which are lofted over the target area. The projectile's sensor detects a vehicle's infrared signature, and an explosively formed penetrator fires at the heat source. If no target is detected after a period of time, the projectiles automatically after a preset time interval, causing damage to material and personnel.
The left, of course, is already screaming about these horrible weapons.
Posted by:Steve

#9  I find Indian burns to be quite painful.
Posted by: Brew   2003-04-02 23:50:25  

#8  These munitions aren't all that new. I remember reading about that type of weapon back in the late 80s, launched as a missle over advancing Soviet tank columns. The little submunitions are the size of tuna cans and have a little fin sticking out that makes them wobble as they spin and drop to the ground. The infrared scanner in the base thereby scans in an spiral pattern and fires at the first heat source it sees. The amazing part is how the projectile somehow forms itself form a lense shape to an arrow head shape by the heat and pressure of the detonation.
Posted by: John   2003-04-02 19:40:27  

#7  Wadded up paper can also be quite injurious when hurled with sufficient force.
Posted by: Dreadnought   2003-04-02 13:51:20  

#6  and no running with scissors either
Posted by: Frank G   2003-04-02 13:26:39  

#5  Dreadnought - Don't forget the sharp stick. Do you know how many people are injured by sharp sticks every year? It's terrible. Terrible. Something must be done...
Posted by: Fred   2003-04-02 12:40:53  

#4  "...an explosively formed penetrator fires at the heat source."

Very slick, a little metal plate is transformed into a pointy bit by explosive formation. Boom.
Posted by: mojo   2003-04-02 12:30:04  

#3  Personally, I'm in favor of outlawing the crossbow. Fiendish engine of war.
Posted by: Dreadnought   2003-04-02 12:23:15  

#2  Reactionary wife-beaters Mennonites and matriarchal power-cultists Quakers in particular have an organized campaign to outlaw cluster bombs. This depends crucially on a variety of half-truths, mythical assumptions, and outright lies about the nature of these weapons. They also support a campaign to ban aerial bombing in general, but go out of their way to justify Palestinian and other suicide bombers. To qualify as brutal and unlawful to these people, it seems only that a weapon must provide a decisive advantage against terrorist and totalitarian revolutionary forces.
Posted by: Atomic Conspiracy   2003-04-02 11:52:31  

#1  Let lefty scream. In fact, add napalm to the SFW's and really get them screaming.
Posted by: tu3031   2003-04-02 10:15:20  

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