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BLU-109 bomb

Field	Value
name	BLU-109
image	BLU-109 aboard F-15E.jpg
image_size	350
caption	A BLU-109 aboard an F-15E Strike Eagle configured as a JDAM
type	Free-fall penetration bomb (guided when equipped as JDAM or Paveway)
service	1985-present
wars
length	7 ft
diameter	14.6 in
<!-- Ranged weapon specifications -->	origin	United States
is_explosive	yes
is_missile
used_by	United States Air Force
Israeli Air Force
variants
weight	2,000 lb
max_range
filling	Tritonal
filling_weight	550 lb

War in Afghanistan
Iraq War
Gaza war
Israel–Hezbollah conflict (2023–present) Israeli Air Force

The BLU-109/B is a hardened bunker buster penetration bomb used by the United States Air Force (BLU is an acronym for Bomb Live Unit). As with other "bunker busters", it is intended to penetrate concrete shelters and other hardened structures before exploding. In addition to the US, it is part of the armament of the air forces of Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Israel, Netherlands, Norway, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, United Kingdom, and United Arab Emirates.

Design

The BLU-109/B has a steel casing about 1 inch thick. Its warhead is filled with 550 lb of tritonal. It has a mechanical-electrical delayed-action FMU-143 tail-fuze.

The BLU-109 entered service in 1985. It is also used as the warhead of some marks of the GBU-15 electro-optically guided bomb, the GBU-24 Paveway III and GBU-27 Paveway III laser-guided bombs, as well as the GBU-31 Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) and AGM-130 air-to-surface missile.

Variants

The BLU-118 is reportedly a thermobaric explosive filler variation on the BLU-109 casing and basic bomb design. It contains PBXIH-135, a traditional explosive.

In 2015, General Dynamics started a $7.2 million development of a version called HAMMER, which is intended to destroy chemical and biological substances by spreading dozens of Kinetic Fireballs Incendiaries (KFI) (not explosions) inside a bunker. The KFIs evolved out of the earlier Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program by Exquadrum, Inc. of Adelanto, California.

Operators

The BLU-109 has been sold to key US allies including South Korea, Israel, Greece, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Pakistan, and Turkey

Greece: Hellenic Air Force
Israel: Israeli Air Force
Morocco: Royal Moroccan Air Force
Netherlands: Royal Netherlands Air Force
Pakistan: Pakistan Air Force
Saudi Arabia: Royal Saudi Air Force
Serbia: Serbian Air Force
South Korea: Republic of Korea Air Force
Turkey: Turkish Air Force
UAE: United Arab Emirates Air Force
United States: United States Air Force

Operational history

In late 2023, the United States delivered 100 BLU-109 bombs to Israel. Israeli F-15I fighter jets are believed to have used BLU-109s with JDAM guidance kits in the strikes that killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut on 27 September 2024.

References

[https://web.archive.org/web/20110525133718/http://www.hill.af.mil/library/factsheets/factsheet.asp?id=5752 BLU-109/B fact sheet - Hill AFB, USAF]
(2004). "BLU-116/B". Forecast International.
J. Hart, Russell. (15 February 2012). "Defeating Hard And Deeply Buried Targets in 2035".
"Gulf War - Air Power Survey, Volume IV - Weapons, Tactics, and Training".
Chow Seng, Chor. (December 2008). "A Business Case Analysis of the Hard Target Void Sensing Fuze (HTVSF) Joint Cap Capability Technology Demonstration (JCTD)".
"BLU-118/B Thermobaric Weapon". GlobalSecurity.org.
Little, Robert. "A race to get a new bomb for cave war". The Baltimore Sun.
Drew, James. "Pentagon taps General Dynamics to test fireball bunker bomb".
"The Most "Political" of All Bombs".
"BLU-109/B (Bomb Live Unit)".
(2 December 2023). "US sends ‘bunker buster’ bombs to Israel for war on Gaza, report says". Al Jazeera.
(29 September 2024). "Israel likely used U.S.-made 2,000-pound bombs in Nasrallah strike, visuals show". The Washington Post.
(30 September 2024). "US-made 2,000-pound bombs likely used in strike that killed Hezbollah chief Nasrallah, CNN analysis shows". CNN.

Info: Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

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