Cluster bombs, one of the most indiscriminate weapons in the modern arsenal, have been used by US and UK forces,
You know, Jacob, I keep hearing about cluster bombings but I never see any actual specifics.
The new 40-bomblet, parachuted, IR sighted, molten copper slug tank killer is often being called "cluster bomb" by those not being careful of terminology but it's just used to knock out 20-30 tanks all at once.
We never hear the usage context details of any of these cluster bomb injury claims.
Until I hear specific details of cluster bombing of civilians, I for one have to say, I don't believe one word of it.
--fl
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MULTIPLE TANK KILLER
b1b.wpafb.af.mil
The Air Force's Sensor Fuzed Weapon (SFW), designated the CBU-97, is the world's first
operational air-delivered cluster bomb with terminally guided submunitions. Developed by Textron
Systems, it entered low-rate initial production (LRIP) in 1992 and full-rate production in 1996
following an unprecedented success rate in more than 100 tests (November AFJI). Last February,
Air Combat Command declared an initial operational capability on F-16 fighters.
Originally developed for low-altitude, high-speed delivery, SFW consists of 10 BLU-108
submunitions that are released from an air-dropped, cylindrical tactical munitions dispenser. Each
submunition carries 4 Skeet antiarmor warheads, for a total of 40 Skeets per SFW. Each 5-inch
diameter Skeet independently scans the ground as it descends using an infrared (IR) sensor. When it
detects a heat source such as a tank engine, the Skeet fires an explosively formed penetrator (EFP)
slug downward through the top of the target vehicle.
Each Skeet scans 2/3 of an acre; the 40 Skeets in each CBU-97 search a total of about 15 acres.
SFW provides multiple armored kills per aircraft pass, which will reduce the number of aircraft
sorties and weapons required to kill a target array.
Qualified initially on the F-16 fighter, SFW is also considered operational on the B-1 bomber
following a May test. A B-1 flew 1,300 miles nonstop from Ellsworth AFB, SD to Eglin AFB, FL,
dropped a single SFW at low altitude, and returned to Ellsworth. The weapon achieved 13 hits on 4
targets in an armored vehicle array. The B-1 can carry 30 CBU-97s, compared to four on the F-16.
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In another flight test early this year, an SFW was "cold-soaked" to a temperature of -65 degrees
Celsius for 12 hours. Then, after being carried at high altitude on a B-52 bomber's wing station, the
single weapon was dropped from an F-16 at 500 feet, scoring seven hits on five targets.
The Air Force awarded Textron an SFW preplanned product improvement (P3I) contract last year.
The P3I version of the CBU-97, slated to enter production in 1999, will search twice as much area
on the ground - 30 acres - thanks to upgrades to the Skeet. These include adding an active IR sensor
that will complement the passive IR sensor to improve target detection and false target rejection.
Jeffrey Picard, Textron's SFW Product Team Leader, told AFJI that the active sensor uses a
laser-emitting diode, which transmits a beam in the IR band. It reflects off the ground, allowing the
sensor to measure range to a target and changes in target height or profile that help characterize the
target. Picard said the active sensor makes it possible to increase the altitude at which the sensors
begin operating while retaining target discrimination, doubling each Skeet's search area on the
ground.
An outer ring of 16 pellets will also be added around the Skeet's copper liner EFP to increase the
warhead's destructive area and make it effective against softer targets, such as air defense
equipment, in addition to heavy armor.
The SFW is truly all-weather. Picard told AFJI that clouds, fog, rain, and snow do not interfere with
its performance and said the passive IR sensor has also been very effective in countermeasures tests
against smoke. He added that the performance of the planned active sensor is only degraded by very
dense smoke and fog and, if that occurred, the passive IR sensor could still detect a target.
EXPANDING SFW'S UTILITY
SFW currently requires direct overflight delivery by fighter aircraft; however, it will gain standoff
range as a result of two other development programs. USAF's Wind Corrected Munitions Dispenser
(WCMD) will be adapted to SFW to allow accurate, medium- to high-altitude delivery, and a
variant of the new Navy-USAF Joint Standoff Weapon (JSOW) will carry BLU-108 submunitions.
WCMD, in pilot production by Lockheed Martin-Orlando, is a tail kit with an inertial guidance
unit, wind estimation and compensation software, and moveable tail fins that will replace the
stationary tail on the current SFW tactical munitions dispenser. It will steer the TMD to within 85
feet (26 meters) of its planned dispense point, and will allow SFW to be delivered from altitudes up
to 45,000 feet and in adverse weather. In addition to vertical standoff, WCMD will provide the
delivery aircraft some horizontal standoff range, e.g., 9-10 miles from 40,000 feet.
The Air Force plans to fit nearly all its SFWs with WCMD tails, beginning in 2000. The
SFW/WCMD combination, designated the CBU-105, will be a particularly important conventional
payload for USAF's B-52, B-1, and B-2 bombers.
The AGM-154B version of Raytheon TI Systems' JSOW (June AFJI), an unpowered glide vehicle,
will dispense six BLU-108 submunitions with a total of 24 Skeets. It will be launched from USAF
and Navy fighters and bombers from ranges up to 40 nautical miles from a target. (The initial
AGM-154A variant of JSOW, which dispenses 145 combined effects bomblets, entered low-rate
production last February.) The AGM-154B will carry the P3I version of the BLU-108; the 24
improved Skeets will search an area of 26 acres.
USAF Col. William Wise, Program Director, Area Attack Weapons at Eglin AFB, FL, told AFJI in
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early September that three of nine planned AGM-154B test launches with inert submunitions had
been completed, all from the F-16. He noted: "Our post-flight analysis indicates that all three
JSOWs would have met or exceeded our kills-per-weapon requirement if they had been configured
with live BLU-108 submunitions and delivered against actual targets. One test experienced an
anomaly during the dispense phase of the flight. This is currently under investigation and has
slowed the development flight test program." The latter will conclude with two firings from an
F-16 with a full load of live BLU-108s in early 1998, he said. An LRIP decision is planned in
December 1998. The Air Force currently expects to buy 3,000 AGM-154B JSOWs and the Navy
1,200. |
