Mark 82 bomb

Development and deployment

With a nominal weight of 500 lb, 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, its actual weight varies depending on its configuration, from 510 to. It is a streamlined steel casing containing 192 lb of Tritonal high explosive. The Mk82 is offered with a variety of fin kits, fuzes, and retarders for different purposes.

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

Over many years Nitro-Chem in Bydgoszcz, Poland was the only provider of certified TNT for U.S. Department of Defense. As of 2021 also the General Dynamics plant in Garland, Texas was providing bombs for the US Armed Forces.

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

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. France requested 1,200 Mk82s in 2010 to Société des Ateliers Mécaniques de Pont-sur-Sambre (SAMP) which builds Mk82s under license. Saudi Arabia requested 8,000 Mk82s in 2015, along with guidance kits and other weapons.

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.

Low-level delivery

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. 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

• BLU-111(AUS)B/B – Australian variant of the Mk82, fitted with both JDAM and Paveway II guidance kits.

• BLU-111/B – Mk82 casing filled with PBXN-109 (instead of Composition H6); item weighs 218 kg. PBXN-109 is a less sensitive explosive filler when compared to H6. 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, this is the BLU-111/B with a thermal-protective coating added 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.

• 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. 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.

• Mark 62 Quickstrike mine – A naval mine, which is a conversion of the Mark 82 bomb.

• 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.

• MK82-T (Tendürek) –Turkish variant of Mk82 with a thermobaric warhead, can be fitted with locally produced HGK, LGK, and KGK guidance kits.

Gallery

File:An aviation ordnanceman installs an arming wire on the nose fuze of a Mark 82 500-pound bomb mounted on the wing pylon of an A-7E Corsair II aircraft aboard the nuclear-powered airc - DPLA - 3fdcf5d91737e1aeb709cb5bd08e6c0a.jpeg|Naval aviation ordnanceman installing arming wire on the nose fuze of a Mark 82 500-pound bomb. File:Mk 82 bombs being armed Hahn AB 1978.JPEG|U.S. Air Force weapons personnel from the 50th Tactical Fighter Wing attach release wires to the arming vanes on Mark 82 bomb during exercise Salty Rooster, Hahn Air Base, Germany - 15 April 1978. File:B-52D(061127-F-1234S-017).jpg|B-52D deploying Mark 82 bombs, Vietnam conflict. File:A-7Es VA-27 dropping bombs Vietnam 1972-73.jpg|A-E Corsairs deploying Mark 82 bombs, Vietnam conflict. File:F-18 ordnance VMFA-235 Desert Storm 1991.jpeg|F/A-18C Hornet displaying equipped Mark 82 bombs, Operation Desert Storm. File:A-10 Thunderbolt II drops live Mk 82, 500lb bombs on the Grayling Aerial Gunnery Range during Exercise Northern Strike 2014.png|Aftermath of Mark 82 deployments via A-10 Thunderbolt II, Grayling Aerial Gunnery Range.

References

References

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