bunkerbuster: not just for nukes
cpaul writes:
THE US 'ANNOUNCED' THEIR INTENTION TO USE B61-11 BUNKER BUSTERS ON LAST NIGHT'S NEWS BULLETINS (BUT SOMEHOW FORGOT TO REFER TO THE FACT THAT THEY ARE CLASSIFIED AS TACTICAL NUCLEAR WEAPONS)
Confirmation?
Yes, I noticed this as well. I wonder how many euphemisms we will now hear for the word "nuclear" until the American public is informed after the fact how wonderfully the weapons have worked.
Possibly confused with this bunker buster: Guided Bomb Unit-28 (GBU-28) BLU-113 Penetrator The Guided Bomb Unit-28 (GBU-28) is a special weapon developed for penetrating hardened Iraqi command centers located deep underground. The GBU-28 is a 5,000-pound laser-guided conventional munition that uses a 4,400-pound penetrating warhead. The bombs are modified Army artillery tubes, weigh 4,637 pounds, and contain 630 pounds of high explosives. They are fitted with GBU-27 LGB kits, 14.5 inches in diameter and almost 19 feet long. The operator illuminates a target with a laser designator and then the munition guides to a spot of laser energy reflected from the target. Much more likely. Hard to imagine a scenario where tacnukes would be deployed.
These things are TOUGH MOTHER FUCKER that go big boom.
-Max
http://www.fas.org/nuke/guide/usa/bomber/n19980326_980417.html
EIELSON AIR FORCE BASE, Alaska (AFNS) -- A B-2 Spirit bomber dropped two B61-11 bomb shells to test their improved ground penetration capability March 17 at the Stuart Creek Impact Area, 35 miles southeast of Fairbanks.
on Fri, Oct 12, 2001 at 03:58:36AM -0700, citizenQ (citizenQ@ziplip.com) wrote:
cpaul writes:
THE US 'ANNOUNCED' THEIR INTENTION TO USE B61-11 BUNKER BUSTERS ON LAST NIGHT'S NEWS BULLETINS (BUT SOMEHOW FORGOT TO REFER TO THE FACT THAT THEY ARE CLASSIFIED AS TACTICAL NUCLEAR WEAPONS)
Confirmation?
Yes, I noticed this as well. I wonder how many euphemisms we will now hear for the word "nuclear" until the American public is informed after the fact how wonderfully the weapons have worked.
Possibly confused with this bunker buster: Guided Bomb Unit-28 (GBU-28) BLU-113 Penetrator
The Guided Bomb Unit-28 (GBU-28) is a special weapon developed for penetrating hardened Iraqi command centers located deep underground. The GBU-28 is a 5,000-pound laser-guided conventional munition that uses a 4,400-pound penetrating warhead. The bombs are modified Army artillery tubes, weigh 4,637 pounds, and contain 630 pounds of high explosives. They are fitted with GBU-27 LGB kits, 14.5 inches in diameter and almost 19 feet long. The operator illuminates a target with a laser designator and then the munition guides to a spot of laser energy reflected from the target.
Much more likely. Hard to imagine a scenario where tacnukes would be deployed.
That's my read. Several press articles mentioned the GBU-28, and Rumsfeld mentioned it (or was asked about it) specifically in a press conference Wednesday or Thursday (NPR's on continuous-feed mode here). The only reference I saw to the B62-11 specific to the current conflict was a Wired article "Nuke 'Em From On High" http://www.wired.com/news/print/0,1294,47319,00.html The device itself is nuclear (not merely a d-u casing, in fact I don't see d-u mentioned at all), with yields from 300T - 300KT, in a focussed charge. Peace. -- Karsten M. Self <kmself@ix.netcom.com> http://kmself.home.netcom.com/ What part of "Gestalt" don't you understand? Home of the brave http://gestalt-system.sourceforge.net/ Land of the free Free Dmitry! Boycott Adobe! Repeal the DMCA! http://www.freesklyarov.org Geek for Hire http://kmself.home.netcom.com/resume.html [demime 0.97c removed an attachment of type application/pgp-signature]
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