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. The tests here were designed to measure the nuclear bomb casing's penetration into frozen soil and the survivability of the weapon's internal components. These were the final two tests needed to certify the weapon system as operational. A team excavated the two unexploded dummy bombs and took careful measurements of their angles and depth of penetration into the soil, which were 6 and 10 feet, according to Ellsworth Rolfs, a B61-11 program test manager. The shells were sent back to Sandia National Laboratories in New Mexico for full analysis of how the simulated internal components fared in the impact. ... "The test unit casing didn't rupture in any of our tests, including drops through concrete from 40,000 feet," he said. "We fully recovered all test units 100 percent intact."
At 01:02 AM 10/12/01 -0700, Max Inux wrote:
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.
<...>
A team excavated the two unexploded dummy bombs and took careful measurements of their angles and depth of penetration into the soil, which were 6 and 10 feet,
Jesus christ on a pogo stick jumping for salvation, what sort of crap is this? "A new case design lets it penetrate the ground to a depth of 15 to 25 feet, where the weapon would then detonate." Jesus christ on a pogo stick jumping for salvation, what sort of crap is this? That's going to bust a bunker? http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/smart/gbu-28.htm 15 to 25 feet, I'm going to LMAO,,, Reese
Max Inux wrote:
These things are TOUGH MOTHER FUCKER that go big boom.
-Max
http://www.fas.org/nuke/guide/usa/bomber/n19980326_980417.html
[...]
A team excavated the two unexploded dummy bombs and took careful measurements of their angles and depth of penetration into the soil, which were 6 and 10 feet,
If those figures are true (If I had a new weapon I wouldn't publish exact details of its capabilities) then it achieves rather less penetration than Barnes Wallis's tallboy bombs of 1944 (one of which sank the Tirpitz). If they use these things they'll surely use them as simple deep penetration bombs? The "nuclear" part of it, if any, will be the depleted uranium inner casing, presumably a way of making it smaller. Penetration of any bunker the Taliban are likely to have with such a bomb will destroy it anyway, and putting a exploding nuke in will just kill the sheep on the surrounding hillsides. We're not talking about Cheyenne Mountain here. The old WW2 deep penetration bombs were huge things with fins, like a cartoon bomb in a comic (http://www.computing.dundee.ac.uk/staff/irmurray/pictures/617bombs.jpg) The larger 1945 version of the Tallboy, called the Grand Slam, supposedly penetrated over 7 metres of concrete when used in action - but it did weigh ten tons & hit the ground at twice the speed of sound. Apparently the shock of the impact did as much damage as the explosion, causing structures to break up up to hundreds of metres away, literally an "earthquake bomb". Of course it is always possible that Dr. Strangelove is still in the employ of the US military and that some insane looney with a grudge against sheep does want to use nukes. Sensible arguments about the idiocy of developing new exploding nukes can be found all over the web - the first google hit on B61-11 is http://www.brook.edu/FP/PROJECTS/NUCWCOST/lasg.htm and worth reading. FAS, as always, has heaps of stuff. Ken Brown
participants (3)
-
Ken Brown
-
Max Inux
-
Reese