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Mark 82 bomb

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Mark 82 General Purpose bomb
TypeLow-drag general-purpose bomb
Place of originUnited States
Service history
In serviceSince 1950s
Production history
ManufacturerGeneral Dynamics
Unit costUS$4,000
Variants
Specifications
Mass531 lb (241 kg)
Length7 ft 3 in (2.21 m)
Diameter10.7 in (273 mm)
FillingTritonal, Comp H-6 or PBXN-109
Filling weight196 lb (89 kg)
ReferencesJanes[1][2][3][4][5] & The War Zone[6]

The Mark 82 is a 500-pound (230 kg) unguided, low-drag general-purpose bomb, part of the United States Mark 80 series. The explosive filling is usually tritonal, though other compositions have sometimes been used.

Development and deployment

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A B-2 Spirit dropping Mk82 bombs into the Pacific Ocean in a 1994 training exercise off Point Mugu, California.

With a nominal weight of 500 lb (230 kg), it is one of the smallest bombs in current service, and one of the most common air-dropped weapons in the world. Although the Mk82's nominal weight is 500 lb (230 kg), its actual weight varies depending on its configuration, from 510 to 570 lb (230 to 260 kg). It is a streamlined steel casing containing 192 lb (87 kg) of Tritonal high explosive. The Mk82 is offered with a variety of fin kits, fuzes, and retarders[broken anchor] for different purposes.

The Mk82 is the warhead for the GBU-12 laser-guided bombs and for the GBU-38 JDAM.

Currently only the General Dynamics plant in Garland, Texas and Nitro-Chem in Bydgoszcz, Poland are Department of Defense-certified to manufacture bombs for the US Armed Forces.[citation needed]

The Mk82 is currently undergoing a minor redesign to allow it to meet the insensitive munitions requirements set by Congress.

Mk. 82 bomb with a Snake Eye Tail Retarding Device – this photograph shows an unfuzed, museum display Mk82 with its usual combat paint scheme. For display purposes, the optional high-drag Snake Eye tailfin set used for low-altitude release is shown.

According to a test report conducted by the United States Navy's Weapon Systems Explosives Safety Review Board established in the wake of the 1967 USS Forrestal fire, the cooking off time for a Mk82 is approximately 2 minutes 30 seconds.

More than 4,500 GBU-12/Mk82 laser-guided bombs were dropped on Iraq during the Persian Gulf War.[7] France requested 1,200 Mk82s in 2010 to Société des Ateliers Mécaniques de Pont-sur-Sambre (SAMP) which builds Mk82s under license.[8] Saudi Arabia requested 8,000 Mk82s in 2015, along with guidance kits and other weapons.[9]

In August, 2018, a Mark 82 bomb was used for Saudi Arabia's Dahyan air strike in Yemen. Munitions experts confirmed that the numbers on it identified Lockheed Martin as its maker and that this particular Mk82 was a Paveway, a laser-guided bomb.[10]

Along with the heavier Mark 84 bombs, Mark 82 bombs were also supplied for the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.[11] In July 2024, the Biden administration resumed shipments of the 500-pound bombs to Israel, which were halted in May due to concerns about the high number of civilian casualties in Gaza.[12]

Low-level delivery

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In low-level bombing, it is possible for the delivering aircraft to sustain damage from the blast and fragmentation effects of its own munitions since the aircraft and ordnance arrive at the target almost simultaneously. To address this issue, the standard Mk82 General-Purpose bomb can be fitted with a special high-drag tail fin unit. In this configuration, it is referred to as the Mk82 Snake Eye.[13] The tail unit has four folded fins that spring open into a cruciform shape when the bomb is released, slowing the bomb by increasing drag, thus allowing the delivery aircraft to safely pass over the target before the bomb hits it.

Variants

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  • BLU-111/B – Mk82 casing filled with PBXN-109 (instead of Composition H6); item weighs 481 lb (218 kg).[14] PBXN-109 is a less sensitive explosive filler when compared to H6.[15] The BLU-111/B also is the warhead of the A-1 version of the Joint Stand-Off Weapon.
  • BLU-111A/B – Used by the U.S. Navy,[16] this is the BLU-111/B with a thermal-protective coating added[15] to reduce cook-off in (fuel-related) fires.
  • BLU-126/B – Designed following a U.S. Navy request to lower collateral damage in air strikes. Delivery of this type started in March 2007. Also known as the Low Collateral Damage Bomb (LCDB), it is a BLU-111 with a smaller explosive charge. Inert ballast is added to match the original weight of the BLU-111, which gives it the same trajectory when dropped.[17]
  • BLU-129/B – U.S. Air Force Mark 82 version with a composite warhead case that disintegrates upon detonation to minimize fragmentation, decreasing damage to nearby structures and reducing the chances of collateral damage.[18] The carbon fiber composite shell achieves three-times less collateral damage by keeping the blast radius tight, while the tungsten-laden case high explosive has greater lethality in that blast radius. Entered service in 2011 with some 800 units produced until early 2015. USAF is looking to restart production for domestic and international consumption.[19][20]
  • Mark 62 Quickstrike mine – A naval mine, which is a conversion of the Mark 82 bomb.[21]
  • Mark 82 Mod 7 – Near-term solution for cluster bomb replacement that replaces the forged steel casing with a unitary "cast ductile iron" warhead and reconfigured burst height and fuze locations, dispersing iron fragmentation over a large area to fulfill area-attack requirements with less chance of unexploded ordnance. To enter service by 2018.[22][23]
  • MK82-T (Tendürek) –Turkish variant of Mk82 with a thermobaric warhead, can be fitted with locally produced HGK, LGK, and KGK guidance kits.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Janes (26 July 2022), "Mk 80 general‐purpose bombs (BLU‐110/111/117/126/129)", Janes Weapons: Air Launched, Coulsdon, Surrey: Jane's Group UK Limited., retrieved 29 May 2023
  2. ^ Janes (1 June 2023), "GBU-10/12/16/58 Paveway II", Janes Weapons: Air Launched, Coulsdon, Surrey: Jane's Group UK Limited., retrieved 2 June 2023
  3. ^ Janes (1 December 2022), "GBU‐22, GBU‐24, GBU‐27 Paveway III, and Enhanced Paveway III", Janes Weapons: Air Launched, Coulsdon, Surrey: Jane's Group UK Limited., retrieved 2 June 2023
  4. ^ Janes (1 June 2023), "GBU‐31/32/38 Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM)", Janes Weapons: Air Launched, Coulsdon, Surrey: Jane's Group UK Limited., retrieved 2 June 2023
  5. ^ Janes (4 August 2021), "Paveway IV (PGB)", Janes Weapons: Air Launched, Coulsdon, Surrey: Jane's Group UK Limited., retrieved 2 June 2023
  6. ^ Newdick, Thimas; Rogoway, Tyler (15 December 2022). "What Joint Direct Attack Munitions could do for Ukraine". The War Zone. Miami, New York & San Francisco: Recurrent Ventures. Retrieved 29 May 2023.
  7. ^ Friedman, Norman (1997). The Naval Institute guide to world naval weapons systems, 1997–1998. Naval Institute Press. p. 249. ISBN 978-1-55750-268-1.
  8. ^ "La DGA notifie l'achat de 1 200 corps de bombes de type Mk82" (in French). Government of France. 28 June 2010. Archived from the original on 16 September 2016. Retrieved 2016-08-10.
  9. ^ "Saudis Request Huge Resupply of U.S. Air-To-Ground Weapons". Aviation International News. Archived from the original on 2015-11-22. Retrieved 2015-11-22.
  10. ^ Nima Elbagir; Salma Abdelaziz; Ryan Browne; Barbara Arvanitidis; Laura Smith-Spark. "Bomb that killed 40 children in Yemen was supplied by US". CNN. Archived from the original on 2018-08-18. Retrieved 2018-08-18.
  11. ^ "US has agreed to send more bombs and warplanes to Israel, sources say". www.reuters.com. 29 March 2024. Retrieved 30 March 2024. The new arms packages include more than 1,800 MK84 2,000-pound bombs and 500 MK82 500-pound bombs, said the sources, who confirmed a report in the Washington Post.
  12. ^ Holland, Steve (11 July 2024). "US to resume shipping 500-pound bombs to Israel, US official says". Reuters.
  13. ^ "Bombs and components". www.ordnance.org/gpb.htm. Archived from the original on 1998-12-02. Retrieved 2008-06-07.
  14. ^ "China Lake, Naval Warfare Center". www.chinalakealumni.org. Archived from the original on 2007-02-03. Retrieved 2007-03-01.
  15. ^ a b "BLU-111/B". Federation of American Scientists. Archived from the original on 2006-12-13. Retrieved 2007-03-01.
  16. ^ "Equipment Listing". www.designation-systems.net. Archived from the original on 2007-02-04. Retrieved 2007-03-01.
  17. ^ Little Bang – p.38, Aviation Week & Space Technology-January 29, 2007
  18. ^ Precision Lethality Responds to Urgent Operational Need Archived 2015-04-18 at the Wayback Machine – AF.mil, 9 January 2015
  19. ^ USAF’s ultra-lethal carbon fibre bomb approved for export Archived 2015-07-03 at the Wayback Machine – Flightglobal.com, 29 June 2015
  20. ^ USAF Has Carbon Fibre Bomb Export Hopes Archived 2015-07-12 at the Wayback Machine – Copybook.com/Military, 2 July 2015
  21. ^ Jenkins, Dennis R. B-1 Lancer, The Most Complicated Warplane Ever Developed, p. 159. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1999. ISBN 0-07-134694-5.
  22. ^ Air Force Replaces Cluster Bombs With Something Slightly Less Likely to Kill Civilians Archived 2015-06-23 at the Wayback Machine – Medium.com/War-is-Boring, 12 October 2014
  23. ^ USAF moving past cluster munitions, CALCM cruise missile Archived 2015-06-10 at the Wayback Machine – Flightglobal.com, 4 June 2015
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