Characteristics and Applications of Bluff Bombs. Volume I. Characteristics and Appendices.

摘要

Bluff shaped bombs are of interest as an internally carried munition because they package well in internal bays and can be delivered throughout the flight envelope of the carriage aircraft. A proposal was made to develop bluff bombs through use of adapter kits consisting of nose and tail castings to convert inventory warheads to bluff shapes. It was further proposed to modify an F-111 weapons bay to carry five such bluff bombs based on the M117 warhead. A program was established to develop and test the hardware proposed an to investigate potential applications bluff bombs to tactical and strategic conventional weapons roles. The bluff bomb tested, called the M117M6, exhibited good separation characteristics up to Mach 2.0 but ballistic performance at altitudes above a few thousand feet is characterized by excessive dispersion due to aerodynamic stability considerations. Analyses were conducted that show bluff bombs may have minimal application to the B-52, FB-111, and F-111 aircraft but appear to be a promising weapon for B01 applications. (Author)