Tags: 711th  and  Big  BLU  BLU-82  bombs  Combat  Commando  Cutter  Daisy  explosives  MC-130  Operations  Range  Special  Squadron  Talon  Test  Training  Utah  Vault  weapons  
Channel: Science & Technology
Uploaded: December 31, 1969 at 6:59 pm
Author: jaglavaksoldier
Length: 00:20
Rating: 5.00
Views: 14099
The BLU-82B/C-130 weapon system, nicknamed Commando Vault, is the high altitude delivery of a 15,000 pound bomb from a C-130. This system depends upon the accurate positioning of the aircraft by either a fixed ground radar or onboard navigation equipment. The ground radar controller or aircrew navigator as applicable, is responsible for positioning the aircraft prior to final countdown and release. Primary aircrew considerations include accurate ballistic and wind computations provided by the navigator, and precision instrument flying with strict adherence to controller instructions. The minimum altitude for release due to blast effects of the weapon is 6,000 feet AGL.The BLU-82 [Bomb Live Unit-82] is a 15,000 pound bomb originally designed to clear helicopter landing zones in Vietnam. The warhead contains 12,600 pounds of GSX [Gelled Slurry Explosive] slurry. Gelled slurry explosives are prepared by forming a slurry of combinations of different ingredients. After this material has gelled, it is detonated by a high explosive booster. Slurry explosives are used in mining where formations to be fractured are wet, very dense, or strong. Slurries are very inexpensive compared with conventional military explosives and much easier to load into large casings. With slurry, filling a bomb is merely a matter of pouring the material into the casing. The slurry can be stored in non-explosive component form and turned into field-manufactured explosive as it is needed. Slurries, sometimes called water gels, contain ammonium nitrate partly in aqueous solution. Adding powdered aluminum as a sensitizer to slurries greatly increases the heat of explosion or the energy release. Aluminized slurries have been used in extremely hard rock with excellent results.The bomb is detonated a few feet above ground level by a 38-inch fuze extender, optimized to clear vegetation while creating no crater. Nicknamed "Big Blue 82", the weapon is frequently and incorrectly referred to as "Daisy Cutter", a term which more properly applies to the fuze assembly for above-ground bursts.In Vietnam it was used to clear helicopter landing zones about 250 feet in diameter. Also called the Daisy Cutter, the BLU-82/B was first used in Vietnam on 23 March 1970. Eleven BLU-82s were dropped during Desert Storm, all from Special Operations C-130s. The initial drops were intended to test the ability of the bomb to clear mines; no reliable bomb damage assessment exist on mine clearing effectiveness. Later, bombs were dropped as much for their psychological effect as for their destructive power.Airmen from the 711th Special Operations Squadron dropped the last operational Bomb Live Unit-82 from an MC-130E Combat Talon I July 15 at the Utah Test and Training Range.Nicknamed "Commando Vault" in Vietnam and "Daisy Cutter" in Afghanistan, the BLU-82 is a 15,000-pound bomb, and because of its size, the bomb was dropped by parachute from the aircraft.