VIDEO - First test of the USAF Small Diameter Bomb

Just had this sent to me. This is test footage from the Commander of Minature Munitions of the new Small Diamter Bomb ( SDB ). This is the new bomb developed by the air force weighing about 250lb's. This small weight and elongated shape lets more weapons to be carried per aircraft and allows weapons to be carried internally in fighters such as the F-22 and F-35.
You can expect to see these being used in Iraq and other places later this year.

This footage shows various live and dummy test against a variety of targets

www.angelfire.com...

Some more information : www.globalsecurity.org...



[edit on 3-3-2005 by rogue1]

Anyone know if the Europeans are developing a similiar type of bomb or will they just buy it off the Americans ?

cool video rogue those bombs sure do have a lot of power.

They do look nice, I'd guess one of the European Countries would have a similer project to this, but not seen one published yet.

Kind of reminds me of a small tactical nuke....nice bomb anyway

These bombs are being tested on F-15 right now, pretty soon on F-16. Very accurate! Very small body powerful punch.

Wow, it looks very effective and able to pinpoint very specific targets. Indeed it looks like a mini nuke. Was it just me or why the ones used in the video a wide range of different strengths. One of them barely blew up a plane under a bridge, while another absolutely demolished a building and the area around it.

When the Air Force wants to drop a bomb on someone but not blow up his neighbor, the options are pretty limited. They want to change that by developing smaller, more targeted bombs, including one that is housed in a carbon fiber case, decreasing shrapnel, and intensifying the explosion at the target -- not around it. Metallic powder might also take the place of metal shrapnel: The powder flies at a deadly velocity close to the target, but its energy quickly dissipates as it fans out, allowing the military to tightly control the danger radius of an explosion. The 250-lb. Small Diameter Bomb (SDB) will soon become a staple of the Air Force, replacing the nearly ubiquitous 500-lb bomb. Its small size means planes can carry more of them, while keeping collateral damage to a minimum.

www.popularmechanics.com...

The Air Force has even experimented with dropping satellite-guided inert bombs, filled with cement instead of traditional explosives.
The smaller bombs -- especially the 250-pound bombs -- are more useful in cities because they don't cause the same destruction that the larger bombs do. But they still can cause considerable unintended casualties by spraying deadly shrapnel for hundreds of yards.
[The focused-lethality munition, which has the potential to produce even less collateral damage, is different from typical bombs in two big ways: the makeup of the casing and what's inside it.
A traditional bomb's casing is made of metal, which shatters when the bomb explodes and provides most of the blast's killing power. The new Air Force munition is encased in a carbon-fiber composite. When the bomb goes off, the special case breaks into thousands of harmless fibers -- limiting the bomb's killing range. On the other hand, the new case fractures more easily than a metal one -- meaning the explosion is stronger close to the target. "More of the blast energy is available as blast as opposed to being absorbed in the steel case," says Dennis Baum, a special technical adviser on munitions in the Pentagon.
The inside of the bomb, which will weigh 250 pounds, is also different. Along with the traditional explosive found in most bombs, the new bomb mixes in a special dense metal powder. The initial blast propels the powder out at such speed that it is highly deadly. Then after traveling a short distance, drag and gravity cause the heavy powder to fall quickly to the ground.
The result is an explosion that is powerful and lethal, but relatively well-contained.
In tests using dummies made out of a special gel that replicates human flesh the blast obliterated everything in the bomb's immediate area, including the gauges the Air Force uses to measure the power of the blast. Scientists at Eglin Air Force base in Fort Walton Beach, Fla., where the tests were conducted, eventually had to design new, hardier pressure gauges.

www.post-gazette.com...

Here is an interesting picture of the X-45 J-UCAS dropping an SDB



Boeing’s X-45A releases a Small Diameter Bomb. J-UCAS demonstrations are aimed at proving that pilotless vehicles can autonomously find, track, and choose targets. Human consent will be needed for weapons release. (AP NASA photo by Jim Ross)

Can't open the video.

the most interesting [ and sarcastic ] comment i can muster is that while the US and NATO appear to be veering wowards this kind of smaller higher prescision " point strike " munitions .

the iranians have aledgedly just rolled out thier first 2000lb bomb

what can we expect in 2007 , the us to develope a 25kg airdroped HEAT round for attacking individual vehicles hrom the air . while in terhan -- the FARS " news agency " announces that the iranians now poseses the hi tecch 4000lb " cookie " and are only the second nation to have this device

for the uninitiated the 4000lb cookie was a bomb developed during WWII to be dropped from lancaster bombers and modified mosquito bombers

neither can i, it wont allow linking from a different site, how did the people above fighter master fin manage?

justin

Its been awhile but seems to me that this bomb design was mentioned about a year ago...on ATS.

As I recall what startled me was the specs that this thing could be launched from some 40 to 60 miles off. Like Wow!! That is some kind of far away standoff range for a glide bomb. I am sure it depends on launch altitude.

This means that the aircraft takes fewer risks than with current bomb delivery systems. Very intresting development if the accuracy can be carefully controlled.

This represents a quantum leap in development. This design is not limited to small diameter bombs...it can be done with large heavy bombs as well for specific targets. By this I mean heavily reinforced targets with once again ...long standoff ranges..for the delivery aircraft.

It also occurs to me what this means for "speciality weapons."


Thanks,
Orangetom