List of cluster bombs

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This is a list of cluster bombs as of 2008.


Brazil

France

Germany

Israel

Poland

South Africa

Soviet Union

United Kingdom

United States

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rockwell B-1 Lancer</span> American strategic bomber by Rockwell, later Boeing

The Rockwell B-1 Lancer is a supersonic variable-sweep wing, heavy bomber used by the United States Air Force. It has been nicknamed the "Bone". It is one of the Air Force's three strategic bombers, along with the B-2 Spirit and the B-52 Stratofortress, as of 2024. Its 75,000-pound payload is the heaviest of any U.S. bomber.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cluster munition</span> Explosive weapon with small submunitions

A cluster munition is a form of air-dropped or ground-launched explosive weapon that releases or ejects smaller submunitions. Commonly, this is a cluster bomb that ejects explosive bomblets that are designed to kill personnel and destroy vehicles. Other cluster munitions are designed to destroy runways or electric power transmission lines.

The GATOR mine system is a United States military system of air-dropped anti-tank and anti-personnel mines developed in the 1980s to be compatible with existing cluster dispensers. It is used with two dispenser systems—the Navy 230 kg (500 lb) CBU-78/B and the Air Force 450 kg (1,000 lb) CBU-89/B. Additionally the mines are used with the land- and helicopter-based Volcano mine system.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paveway</span> Laser-guided aerial bomb family

Paveway is a series of laser-guided bombs (LGBs).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Butterfly Bomb</span> German weapon

The Butterfly Bomb was a German 2-kilogram (4.4 lb) anti-personnel submunition used by the Luftwaffe during the Second World War. It was so named because the thin cylindrical metal outer shell which hinged open when the bomblet deployed gave it the superficial appearance of a large butterfly. The design was very distinctive and easy to recognise. SD 2 bomblets were not dropped individually, but were packed into containers holding between 6 and 108 submunitions e.g. the AB 23 SD 2 and AB 250-3 submunition dispensers. The SD 2 submunitions were released after the container was released from the aircraft and had burst open. Because SD 2s were always dropped in groups the discovery of one unexploded SD 2 was a reliable indication that others had been dropped nearby. This bomb type was one of the first cluster bombs ever used in combat and it proved to be a highly effective weapon. The bomb containers that carried the SD 2 bomblets and released them in the air were nicknamed the "Devil's Eggs" by Luftwaffe air and ground crew.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">CBU-97 Sensor Fuzed Weapon</span> Anti-vehicle "smart" cluster bomb

The CBU-97 Sensor Fuzed Weapon is a United States Air Force 1,000-pound (450 kg)-class freefall Cluster Bomb Unit. It was developed and produced by Textron Defense Systems. A CBU-97 used in conjunction with the Wind Corrected Munitions Dispenser guidance tail kit is converted to a precision-guided weapon, and the combination is designated CBU-105.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">CBU-100 Cluster Bomb</span> American cluster bomb

The Mk 20 Rockeye II, CBU-99 Rockeye II, and CBU-100 Rockeye II comprise an American cluster bomb family which are employed primarily in an anti-tank mode against armored vehicles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">PDU-5B dispenser unit</span>

The PDU-5/B is an aircraft-deployed leaflet dispersal unit. It is derived from the CBU-100 "Rockeye" Cluster Bomb, developed by the U.S. Air Force around 1999. It was used successfully in Afghanistan and Iraq to distribute leaflets. In 2015, it was used again to drop 60,000 leaflets near Raqqa, Syria.

The CBU-87 Combined Effects Munition (CEM) is a cluster bomb used by the United States Air Force, developed by Aerojet General/Honeywell and introduced in 1986 to replace the earlier cluster bombs used in the Vietnam War. CBU stands for Cluster Bomb Unit. When the CBU-87 is used in conjunction with the Wind Corrected Munitions Dispenser guidance tail kit, it becomes much more accurate, and is designated CBU-103.

The Wind Corrected Munitions Dispenser or WCMD system is a US tail kit produced by Lockheed Martin for use with the Tactical Munitions Dispenser family of cluster bombs to convert them to precision-guided munitions. In 1997 the United States Air Force issued contracts to complete development and begin production of the WCMD, planning to modify 40,000 tactical munitions dispensers - 30,000 for CEM and 5,000 each for Gator and SFW - at a cost of US$8,937 per unit.

The CBU-55 was a cluster bomb fuel–air explosive that was developed during the Vietnam War by the United States Air Force, and was used only infrequently in that conflict. Unlike most incendiaries, which contained napalm or phosphorus, the 750-pound (340 kg) CBU-55 was fueled primarily by propane. Described as "the most powerful non-nuclear weapon in the U.S. arsenal," the device was one of the more powerful conventional weapons designed for warfare.

The CBU-107 Passive Attack Weapon (PAW) is an air-dropped guided bomb containing metal penetrator rods of various sizes. It was designed to attack targets where an explosive effect may be undesirable, such as fuel storage tanks or chemical weapon stockpiles in civilian areas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Armed helicopter</span> Military aircraft

An armed helicopter is a military helicopter equipped with aircraft ordnance. Most commonly, it is used for attacking targets on the ground. Such a helicopter could be either purposely designed for a ground-attack mission—in which case it would be more specifically categorized as an attack helicopter—or may have been previously designed for other uses, such as utility, air cargo, aerial reconnaissance, etc., with the weapons mounts being modifications, rather than part of the design of the helicopter. The purpose of the modification to an armed helicopter configuration can be field expediency during combat, the lack of military funding to develop or purchase attack helicopters, or the need to maintain the helicopter for missions that do not require the weapons.

The CBU-72 was a 550-pound (250 kg) American fuel-air cluster bomb used by the United States Military until 1996. It was very effective against armored vehicles, aircraft parked in the open, bunkers, and minefields.

The M125 bomblet was a U.S. chemical sub-munition designed to deliver the nerve agent sarin. It was brought into service in 1954 with the M34 cluster bomb as part of the first U.S. air-delivered nerve agent weapon.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">LS PGB</span> Chinese precision bombs

LS is an abbreviation for a family of Chinese built precision-guided munitions (PGM) named Thunder Stone Precision Guided Bomb developed by China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC). Alternatively, the LS PGB is also referred to by its gliding capability, as Thunder Stone Gliding Guided Bomb, or LS GGB. The guidance design of LS PGB is also adopted for another family of Chinese PGM, the YZ series, such as YZ-102 series. These PGMs are referred to in China as precision guided bombs (PGB).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">China Lake Museum</span> Military museum in Ridgecrest, California

The China Lake Museum is a military museum in Ridgecrest, California focused on the history of Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake and the development of naval aviation armament and technology.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fairchild AU-23 Peacemaker</span> Type of aircraft

The Fairchild AU-23 Peacemaker is an American armed gunship, counter-insurgency, utility transport version of the Pilatus PC-6 Porter for the United States Air Force. A total of 35 were built under license in the United States by Fairchild Industries, for use during the Vietnam War in the early 1970s. All aircraft were later sold to the Royal Thai Air Force.

Soviet Union and Russian Federation developed a range of aerial bombs for use on its aircraft.

References

  1. "Air Force Weapons: CB-470 Cluster Bomb". Dean Wingrin. Retrieved 11 May 2016.
  2. "CB-470 Cluster Bomb". The South African Air Force. Retrieved 17 May 2024.
  3. "Air Force Weapons: Alpha Bomb". Dean Wingrin. Retrieved 11 May 2016.