BLU-116

The BLU-116 is a United States Air Force bomb, designed as an enhanced bunker buster penetration weapon, designed to penetrate deep into rock or concrete and destroy hard targets.[1]

The BLU-116 is the same shape, size, and weight (1,927 lb / 874 kg) and twice the penetration as the BLU-109 penetration bomb first deployed in the 1980s.[1] The BLU-116 has a lightweight outer shell around a dense, heavy metal penetrator core. The shape and size mean that the BLU-116 could be used by unmodified existing aircraft and bomb guidance units such as the GPS guided GBU-31 Joint Direct Attack Munition and GBU-24 Paveway III laser-guided bomb.

Specifications

From:[2]

  • Length: 2.4 m
  • Width: 0.37 m
  • Weight: 874 kg
  • Explosives: 109 kg PBXN

Controversy

Some organizations have linked the BLU-116 design to Depleted uranium,[3] with references to a DU penetrator option in US Patent 6,389,977 "Shrouded Aerial Bomb"[4] which describes a weapon similar to the BLU-116. Two of the claims make reference to the use of tungsten or depleted uranium to make the casing of the bomb, however there is no evidence that either material was used in this weapon and specifications indicate use of a nickel-cobalt steel alloy.[5]

References
  1. BLU-116 Advanced Unitary Penetrator (AUP) GBU-24 C/B (USAF) / GBU-24 D/B (Navy), accessed Oct 2, 2007
  2. BLU-116 Advanced Unitary Penetrator (AUP) GBU-24 C/B (USAF) / GBU-24 D/B (Navy) Specifications, accessed Oct 2, 2007
  3. nucnews.net, accessed Oct 2, 2007 Archived February 17, 2005, at the Wayback Machine
  4. Patent 6,389,977 Shrouded Aerial Bomb, accessed Oct 2, 2007
  5. Pike, John (December 27, 1999). "Guided Bomb Unit-24 (GBU-24)". Federation of American Scientists. Retrieved 31 August 2018.


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