JDAM with a delayed fuse reduces collateral damage

Feb 17, 2018 7:39 AM

MisterLemons

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JDAM with a delayed fuse

A 1000lb bomb would ordinarily level a small neighborhood block, but when fitted with a fuse that delays detonation until a few seconds AFTER it hits the ground, a single building can be collapsed rather than completely disintegrated.

I don't know the specifics of this test, other than it being held at the China Lake Testing Grounds, but I would assume it was to prove the effectiveness of a GPS guided munition in destroying the target and nothing else. A bomb of this size would ordinarily leave NOTHING behind, much less simply flip the vehicle.

Now what fun is that? A bomb needs to be a bomb.

8 years ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

I love how we got so good at kill each other we have to intentionally add technology to reduce our effectiveness.

8 years ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

I've also seen people walk away after a 500# has blow up over the top of them. So ya know, Inshallah

8 years ago | Likes 3 Dislikes 0

"Call before you dig." - 811

8 years ago | Likes 4 Dislikes 0

The only problem is maybe you want to level a small neighbourhood just to get the target.

8 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

My sister works on the guidance sys. PaWS in CL! Makes an otter gesture when she says paws and the older engineers don't know what to think.

8 years ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

I’m all for collateral damage!!! Back to carpet bombing like WW2!!!

8 years ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

It also only kills enemy, freindly cats in the blast area are unharmed. Dumb military complex will doom us all. Dont glorify death!

8 years ago | Likes 15 Dislikes 9

We're officially back-tracking

8 years ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

Now if we could only stop bombing buildings full of civilians...

8 years ago | Likes 4 Dislikes 2

Darn I wanted to see if the van nailed the landing

8 years ago | Likes 4 Dislikes 0

Right? Not only is the text dead wrong, the gif is done right either!

8 years ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

It digs the grave and buries them

8 years ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

Yes but is it pointy?

8 years ago | Likes 5 Dislikes 0

It is much pointy.... And explodey

8 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

We already do delayed fusing. That’s how we penetrate to different floors on a multi-story building...

8 years ago | Likes 3 Dislikes 0

Clever

8 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 1

Less shrapnel this way?

8 years ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

Bombs have had optional fuse settings for some time now.

8 years ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

A 1000 pound JDAM OR A GBU 32, would never level a whole block. It won’t disintegrate a house.

8 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

Delay if one way to mitigate collateral damage but this is a vast oversimplification. There are multiple ways to reduce CD.

8 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

Pretty sure that's a bunker buster

8 years ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

8 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 1

1klbs = 453.6 kg for the other 94% of the world. also this reminds me of a Nuclear explosive being detonated underground.

8 years ago | Likes 12 Dislikes 1

8 years ago | Likes 5 Dislikes 0

Well, there goes my garden...

8 years ago | Likes 3 Dislikes 0

I must admire the ability for the JDAM to not destroy the non-target dirt as opposed to the target dirt.

8 years ago | Likes 3 Dislikes 0

And it's ability to not destroy the target truck and instead blame that on gravity's doing is utterly admirable.

8 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

+1 to both

8 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

"COME ON AND *SLAM!* AND WELCOME TO THE *JAM!*"

6 years ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

Ooooor..no bombs at all?

8 years ago | Likes 11 Dislikes 14

You must be new to these parts. We don't take kindly to people who take kindly 'round here!

8 years ago | Likes 5 Dislikes 0

What about jägerbombs?!

8 years ago | Likes 5 Dislikes 0

8 years ago | Likes 5 Dislikes 0

Now THAT is what I call a launch truck.

8 years ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

WHAT THE HELL IS LB?? *confused european*

8 years ago | Likes 3 Dislikes 1

Lover Boy.

8 years ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 1

In Latin, libra pondo meant 'balance pound', which was abbreviated to Lb. Also further shortened to £ (=L) used for UK currency, ein Pfund

8 years ago | Likes 4 Dislikes 1

thanks!

8 years ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

Licking balls. 1000 licked balls in that bomb.

8 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 1

2.2lb = 1kg

8 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

approximately, at sea level on earth

8 years ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

You can achieve the same by simple hitting the target with a e.g. 200lb bomb. If the 1000lb bomb destroys whole neighborhoods, dont use them

3 years ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

That's not "a few seconds" that maybe a third of a second at most

8 years ago | Likes 502 Dislikes 5

third of a second yes but the video is slow motion maybe 1000fps/s?

8 years ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

Meant to type 'milliseconds', got lost in other typos.

8 years ago | Likes 111 Dislikes 4

And as for reducing damage, id still say everything hit will get pretty fucked

8 years ago | Likes 14 Dislikes 6

Can we stop shitting on @op's effort ? lol.

8 years ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

"...collateral damage." They discovered how to reduce damage to the target years ago; they don't send the bomb at all.

8 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 1

A truck and a house or a truck and 25 houses. hmmm :thinking:

8 years ago | Likes 5 Dislikes 0

I think the idea is to reduce the amount of things that get hit while still letting hit hit hard enough to fuck up one thing extra bad.

8 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

Well yeah, everything hit is supposed to be fucked. The idea is to prevent the entire neighborhood from also getting fucked.

8 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

Less shrapnel this way?

8 years ago | Likes 4 Dislikes 0

It would be far less. Look up the term "camouflet"

8 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

more like different kind of shrapnel

8 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 1

That truck is shrapnel. Just not traveling as far.

8 years ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

I think it's more for not hitting as much. Not having low damage on what you hit

8 years ago | Likes 13 Dislikes 0

Im not some maths genius, but to me, the area of the explosion in the video seemed like it would fuck a diameter of at least truck x 5

8 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 1

That's a reasonable size for a building.

8 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

Yes, seems like overkill for a truck tho

8 years ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 1

Truck x 5, over truck x 30, due to the yield a lot of our sub nuclear arsenal can do. Like, artillery that can turn a city block into a-

8 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

Decorative gravel lot in about 5 minutes of shelling.

8 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

How come the bomb doesn't blow when it hits the ground? I mean it takes a huge impact? Should that not detonate it by itself?

8 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 1

Lots of steel in those things. They aren't some sorta olive drab watermelon fulla boom.

8 years ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

Have a Google for Wallis earthquake bomb. A ww2 bomb that started this technique

8 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

This is why we do not make bombs out of nitroglycerin or tnt any more. Modern explosives tend to be shock and fire stable

8 years ago | Likes 7 Dislikes 1

It takes a LOT to set off “most” explosive’s. Most bombs need a fuse AND a booster to go off. I loaded bombs on aircraft long ago (1970)

8 years ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

Probably not much changed there's 4 or so steps for a PW4.

8 years ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

USAF uses H6 and tritonal in their bombs, which are extremely stable. The Navy uses tritonal and PBXN, which is also insensitive to heat.

8 years ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

Modern western explosives (like, from the sixties onwards) are extremely stable by design. Example: C4 can be dropped from 10K feet

8 years ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

Then set on fire... and it won't explode. You can actually eat it too, but I wouldn't advise.

8 years ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

Because it has a delayed fuse.

8 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

So just violently throwing a bomb from high altitude to the ground is not enough to make it kaboom?

8 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

You typically need both heat and shock to detonate modern military explosives. One or the other is not sufficient.

8 years ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

Yep. Just like how lighting C4 on fire just gives you a pile of C4 that's on fire, no explosion.

8 years ago | Likes 6 Dislikes 0

The main explosives used in bombs are fairly hard to detonate. They require specific triggers and a hard impact isn't one of those.

8 years ago | Likes 6 Dislikes 0

Otherwise Clumsy Johnny would kill everyone when he dropped one on the carrier deck...

8 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1961_Goldsboro_B-52_crash Or when a B-52 carrying 4 nukes crashes into North Carolina...

8 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

http://www.rkeene.org/personal/pictures/.funny/Small_bombdrop.jpg Who gave Clumsy Johnny forklift keys?

8 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

:P

8 years ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

So... Why wouldnt you just use a smaller bomb?

8 years ago | Likes 273 Dislikes 11

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[deleted]

8 years ago (deleted Feb 17, 2018 12:13 PM) | Likes 0 Dislikes 0

Computer guidance units to adjust it for its mission. The US also has a large surplus of these.

8 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

Single bomb could be used multiple ways. Only the fuse setting needs to be changed. Same bomb could be set to air-burst against infantry.

8 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

That doesn’t make for a good gif silly

8 years ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

HA! Smaller bombs.... Absurd...

8 years ago | Likes 3 Dislikes 1

8 years ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

They've also done that with the 'Small Diameter Bomb' at 250 lbs. Comes with a gps / laser / radar or other guidance kit and glider wings.

8 years ago | Likes 4 Dislikes 0

Direction of force, exploding above the ground makes an expanding ball, exploding underground makes a shape-charge pointed up, +shrapnel

8 years ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GBU-53/B We do have smaller bombs.

8 years ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

something something, "don't lead them as much".

8 years ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

How about a tactical nuke with a longer delay?

8 years ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

You have to put your money somewhere

8 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

Effect would differ. Example shows the vehicle remaining intact until it lands. A smaller bomb would bust it open.

8 years ago | Likes 3 Dislikes 0

To ensure the munitions being carried can perform a wide variety of missions. That enhances the ability to deal with targets of opportunity.

8 years ago | Likes 4 Dislikes 1

What part of the military industrial complex are you not understanding?

8 years ago | Likes 35 Dislikes 11

Cheaper and logistically easier to use fewer types that you can scale the effects of via fuzing options.

8 years ago | Likes 3 Dislikes 1

Because 'Murica, obviously.

8 years ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 1

Because Murica

8 years ago | Likes 36 Dislikes 14

came here to write this comment

8 years ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 1

Haha ????

8 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 1

Controlled demolition. Even a smaller bomb would explode outward, this doesn't eliminate collateral but lessens it.

8 years ago | Likes 9 Dislikes 0

Might be potentially mass production of one type that can be changed to varying levels of destruction

8 years ago | Likes 102 Dislikes 2

iirc JDAMs are Vietnam era surplus fitted with modern guidance systems, so this is pretty much spot on.

8 years ago | Likes 18 Dislikes 1

So... to save money? Have you not seen the military budget?

8 years ago | Likes 23 Dislikes 5

It doesn't look like it but the US military spends a lot of money on efficiency. Just have to look at their stuff vs ours

8 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

Nah mass production so you can have lots of varied bombs in a short time incase things go sideways. Just a thought not based on any fact

8 years ago | Likes 22 Dislikes 0

It also means you can have one plane carrying a bunch of one bomb, that can be tuned for use in different situations.

8 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 0

I think the point is not scattering pieces all around, which can affect other structures or people severely

8 years ago | Likes 24 Dislikes 1

It really is a moot point, considering our double tap doctrine that ends up hitting first responders.

8 years ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

True. You wouldn’t want your bomb to cause all that damage.

8 years ago | Likes 3 Dislikes 1

So thhere are no rocks in all that dirt?

8 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 1

Its directs the force upwards. Falling rocks can hurt but they wont devastate a wide area like high velocity shrapnel.

8 years ago | Likes 3 Dislikes 0

Some I'm sure. Less than a spray of bricks.

8 years ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0

so that US government pays more dollars to get more subdued blast effect instead of paying less dollars for smaller bomb

8 years ago | Likes 4 Dislikes 9

With a smaller bomb above ground the effect on target will be the same but the area surrounding will be hit with the blast wave and sharpnel

8 years ago | Likes 3 Dislikes 1

considering that this missile is supposed to bring down buildings, blast wave and shrapnel are really not a factor to consider

8 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 5

1. Not a missile 2. Missiles are NOT used to bring buildings down 3. Every explosion will inherently cause shrapnel

8 years ago | Likes 2 Dislikes 1

Yes but the explosive force is directed upwards by the dirt and with it any potential fragmentation. Vertically directed fragments won't /2

8 years ago | Likes 1 Dislikes 0