Air Weapons: April 4, 2003

Archives

One difference from the 1991 war is a new generation of air dropped and artillery anti-tank weapons. Iraq has seen the first used of smart cluster bombs using anti-tank weapons. In Afghanistan, the U.S. Air Force dropped about 700 of these "wind corrected munitions dispenser" (with inertial guidance that brings it to within 30-100 feet of the aim point) carrying anti-personnel bomblets. The new ones dropped in Iraq (CBU 105) are half ton bombs, each carrying 40 SADARM bomblets. Individual SADARMs have their own radar and heat sensor that searches for armored vehicles below and destroys them with a shaped charge warhead. The SADARMs from each CBU-105 cover an area of roughly 150 x 360 meters. The first use of the CBU-105 was on April 2nd, when a B-52 dropped six of them on a Iraqi army column moving south from Baghdad. 


 

X

ad

Help Keep Us From Drying Up

We need your help! Our subscription base has slowly been dwindling.

Each month we count on your contribute. You can support us in the following ways:

  1. Make sure you spread the word about us. Two ways to do that are to like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.
  2. Subscribe to our daily newsletter. We’ll send the news to your email box, and you don’t have to come to the site unless you want to read columns or see photos.
  3. You can contribute to the health of StrategyPage.
Subscribe   contribute   Close