From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Bunker buster
Bunker buster
A bunker buster is a bomb designed to penetrate hard- signed two bombs that would become the conceptual
ened targets or targets buried deep underground. predecessors of modern bunker busters: the five tonne
Tallboy and the ten tonne Grand Slam "Earthquake"
Artillery delivered bombs bombs. The designs were very aerodynamic with a tail
which caused them to spin. This allowed them to exceed
the speed of sound as they fell from 22,000 ft (6,700 m).
Germany They had casings of high grade steel, much stronger than
Röchling shells were bunker-busting artillery shells, de- the typical WWII bomb so that they would survive hitting
veloped by German engineer August Cönders, based on a hardened surface, or penetrate deep into the ground.
the theory of increasing sectional density to improve Though these bombs might be thought of as ’bunker
penetration. They were tested in 1942 and 1943 against busters’ today, in fact the original ’earthquake’ theory
the Belgian Fort d’Aubin-Neufchâteau[1] was more complex and subtle than simply penetrating a
hardened surface. The Earthquake bombs were designed
Aircraft delivered bombs not to strike a target directly, but to impact beside it,
penetrate under it, and create a ’camouflet’ or large
buried cavern at the same time as delivering a shock
World War II wave through the target’s foundations. The target then
United Kingdom collapses into the hole, no matter how hardened it may
be. The bombs had strong casings because they needed
to travel through rock rather than reinforced concrete,
though they could perform equally well against hard-
ened surfaces. In an attack on the U-boat pens at Farge
two Grand Slams went through the 15 ft (4.5 m) rein-
forced concrete hardening[2] — equalling or exceeding
the best current penetration specifications.
The Disney Rocket-Assisted Bomb was another WWII
device to be used against U-boat pens and other super-
hardened targets. Devised by Captain Edward Terrell
RNVR of the Admiralty’s Directorate of Miscellaneous
Weapons Development[3] it had a streamlined hardened
case and weighed some 4,500 lb (2 tonnes) including the
rocket assembly. Actual exposive content was about
500 lb (230 kg). The bomb was dropped from 20,000 ft
(6,100 m). At 5,000 ft (~1,500 m) a barometric fuze fired
the rockets in the tail to give it a velocity at impact of
up to 2,400 ft/second (730 m/s). It was first used by the
USAAF’s 92nd Bomb Group on 10 February 1945 on S-boat
pens at IJmuiden, Netherlands, one bomb under each
wing of nine B-17 Flying Fortresses. On that occasion
a single direct hit was scored. A total of 158 "Disney
Bombs" were used operationally by the end of hostilities
in Europe.
United States
Post war the US added a form of remote guidance to the
A U-Boat pen after being hit by a Grand Slam — there is a fig-
Tallboy to create the Tarzon, a 12,000-pound bomb de-
ure standing on the pile of rubble.
ployed in the Korean War against an underground com-
mand center near Kanggye.
In World War II the British designer Barnes Wallis,
already famous for inventing the bouncing-bomb, de-
1
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Bunker buster
Depth of Penetration Weapon Systems
Penetration of reinforced concrete: 1.8 m (6 BLU-109 Penetrator GBU-10, GBU-15, GBU-24, GBU-27,
ft) AGM-130
Penetration of reinforced concrete: 3.4 m (11 BLU-116 Advanced Unitary Pene- GBU-15, GBU-24, GBU-27,
ft) trator (AUP) AGM-130
BLU-118/B Thermobaric Warhead GBU-15, GBU-24, AGM-130
Penetration of reinforced concrete: more BLU-113 Super Penetrator GBU-28, GBU-37
than 6 m (20 ft)
Modern when the bomb is released, and detonates when the pro-
peller stops turning and the timer has expired.
Modern bunker busters may use the traditional fuze,
but some also include a microphone and microcontroller.
The microphone listens, and the micro controller counts
floors until the bomb breaks through the desired num-
bers of floors.
ATK is working on a Hard Target Void Sensing Fuze
(HTVSF) for 2000 and 5000 pound weapons to explode
when they reach an open space in a deeply buried
bunker.[4]
Missiles
The extra speed provided by a rocket motor enables
An example of bunker busters at work at Ali Al Salem Air Base, greater penetration of a missile-mounted bunker buster
Kuwait warhead. To reach maximum penetration (Impact
depth), the warhead may consist of a high-density pro-
During Operation Desert Storm (1991) there was a need jectile only. Such a warhead carries more energy than
for a deep penetration bomb similar to the British a warhead with chemical explosives (kinetic energy of a
weapons of WWII, but none of the NATO air forces had projectile at hypervelocity).
such a weapon. As a stop-gap, some were developed over
a period of 28 days, using old 8 inch (203 mm) artillery Nuclear
barrels as casings. These bombs weighed over two tons
but carried only 647 lb (293 kg) of high explosive. They Main article: Nuclear bunker buster
were laser-guided and were designated "Guided Bomb
Unit-28 (GBU-28)", and were effective. See also
An example of a Russian bunker buster is the
• T-12 Cloudmaker
KAB-1500L-Pr. It is delivered with the Su-24M and the
• Disney bomb
Su-27IB aircraft. It is stated to be able to penetrate 10-20
• Rochling shell
m of earth or 2 m of reinforced concrete. The bomb
weighs 1,500 kg (3,300 lb), with 1,100 kg (2,400 lb) being
the high explosive penetrating warhead. It is laser guided Further reading
and has a reported strike accuracy of 7 m (23 ft) CEP.
• Guided Bomb Unit-28 (GBU-28) BLU-113 Penetrator
The US has a series of custom made bombs to pene-
• BBC: ’Bunker buster’ missiles aim at Moon
trate hardened or deeply buried structures:
• Annotated bibliography for nuclear bunker buster
More recently, the US has developed the 30,000-pound
bombs from the Alsos Digital Library for Nuclear
GBU-57.
Issues
• Read Congressional Research Service (CRS) Reports
Fusing regarding Bunker Busters
• Video against usage (produced by Union of
The traditional fuze is the same as a classic armor-pierc-
Concerned Scientists)
ing bomb: a combination of timer and a sturdy dynamic
propeller on the rear of the bomb. The fuze is armed
2
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Bunker buster
Manufacturing Development (EMD) Phase." ATK, 5
April 2011.
Bibliography
• Terrell, Edward (1958). Admiralty Brief: the story of
inventions that contributed to victory in the Battle of the
Atlantic. Harrap.
• Young, C.W. (1997). Penetration equations (Report).
SAND94-2726.
SAND94-2726 Albuquerque NM: Sandia National
Laboratories. http://www.fas.org/sgp/othergov/
doe/lanl/lib-www/sand/972426.pdf. "This is a
standalone report documenting the latest version of
the Young/Sandia penetration equations and related
analytical techniques to predict penetration into
natural earth materials and concrete."
• Young, C.W. (1967). The Development Of Empirical
Equations For Predicting Depth Of An Earth Penetrating
SC-DR-67-60.
Projectile (Report). SC-DR-67-60 Albuquerque NM:
Sandia National Laboratories.
• Alekseevskii, V. P. (1966). "Penetration of a rod into a
target at high velocity". Combustion, Explosion, and
Shock Waves (Fizika Goreniya i Vzryva) 2 (2): 99–106.
doi:10.1007/BF00749237. ISSN 0010-5082.
• Tate, A. (1 November 1967). "A theory for the
deceleration of long rods after impact". Journal of the
Mechanics and Physics of Solids 15 (6): 387–399.
doi:10.1016/0022-5096(67)90010-5.
http://hep.ph.liv.ac.uk/~ibailey/target/shielding/
tate_1967.pdf. Retrieved 23 June 2011.
• Bernard, Robert S. (1978). Depth and Motion Prediction
ADA056701.
for Earth Penetrators (Report). ADA056701 Army
Engineer Waterways Experiment Station Vicksburg.
http://www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/
GetTRDoc?Location=U2&doc=GetTRDoc.pdf&AD=ADA056701.
• Walters, William P.; Segletes, Steven B. (1991). "An
exact solution of the long rod penetration
equations". International Journal of Impact Engineering
11 (2): 225–231. doi:10.1016/0734-743X(91)90008-4.
• Segletes, Steven B.; Walters, William P. (2002).
Efficient Solution of the Long-Rod Penetration Equations of
ARL-TR-2855.
Alekseevskii-Tate (Report). ARL-TR-2855 Army
Research Lab Aberdeen Proving Ground MD.
http://www.arl.army.mil/arlreports/2002/ARL-
A guided bomb strikes its target in a weapons test
TR-2855.pdf.
• Segletes, Steven B.; Walters, William P. (2003).
References "Extensions to the exact solution of the long-rod
penetration/erosion equations". International Journal
of Impact Engineering 28 (4): 363–376. doi:10.1016/
Notes
S0734-743X(02)00071-4. http://aux.ciar.org/ttk/
[1] http://derelicta.pagesperso-orange.fr/aubin3.htm mbt/papers/ijie00/ijie_28_363.pdf. Retrieved 23 June
[2] "Grand Slam Raids" Royal Air Force Bomber 2011.
Command 60th Anniversary raf.mod.uk • Parsch, Andreas (2006). "Textron (Avco) BLU-106/B
[3] Terrell, 1958. pp. 197-212 BKEP (Boosted Kinetic Energy Penetrator)". Directory
[4] "ATK Awarded Contract for Hard Target Void of U.S. Military Rockets and Missiles (Appendix 4).
Sensing Fuze (HTVSF) Engineering & http://www.designation-systems.net/dusrm/app4/
3
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Bunker buster
blu-106.html. Retrieved 27 June 2011. US rocket-
boosted submunition against runways and hardened
Other external links
aircraft shelters. • Video of bunker buster bomb in action
• Tunnel buster bomb
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Bunker_buster&oldid=451601242"
Categories:
• Aerial bombs
• Anti-fortification weapons
• Bunkers
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