VF-1's Mk 82 convetional bombs

[Aurel Tristen]

In This is Animation Special Macross Plus (OVA) and the Macross Plus Game Edition books, in the VF-1's spec data (armament) Mk. 82 LDGB conventional bombs x 12 are listed. There is no such thing in real life as a 'Mk. 82 LDGB'. There is, however, a Mk. 82 LDGP (Low-Drag General Purpose). "GB" in a bomb designation can either mean "Guided Bomb" or "Gravity Bomb". The sources do not say they are guided munitions. So, I pose a question for anyone who wants to talk about this matter. Was the LDGB a typo carried over from the TIAS MP book to other places or is it an official Macross realm fact?

[the white drew carey]

I'd guess it's a Macross realm fact, although the concept is probably taken from real-world sources.

You'd have to think that nearly 40 years in the future, the UNSpacy wouldn't still be employing any type of munitions from the late 90's. So I highly doubt that it's a mistake and that it's a typo regarding any current real-world munitions.

[Opus]

I'd guess it's a Macross realm fact, although the concept is probably taken from real-world sources.

You'd have to think that nearly 40 years in the future, the UNSpacy wouldn't still be employing any type of munitions from the late 90's. So I highly doubt that it's a mistake and that it's a typo regarding any current real-world munitions.

Why not? The Us was using iron bombs left over from WW2 as recently as Desert Storm.

[Prime]

No reason not to use them. I would think old ordinance like that would still be just as effective in certain situations.

[David Hingtgen]

Yup, nothing like carpet-bombing for using up old bombs. The most common loads for Hornets and Intruders in Desert Storm were Mk.82 LDGP bombs. And dumb bombs can be pretty accurate, that comes down to pilot skill. (and a good pipper with CCIP can help a lot too!)

Quick bomb review:

Mk.82 is the 500lb,

Mk.83 is the 1,000lb,

Mk.84 is the 2,000lb.

And to stave off a question: weight is total weight, not weight of the explosive. Assume around 50/50 explosive/casing. (Shrapnel from the casing might actually do more damage than the explosion itself)

[Retracting Head Ter Ter]

Yup, nothing like carpet-bombing for using up old bombs. The most common loads for Hornets and Intruders in Desert Storm were Mk.82 LDGP bombs. And dumb bombs can be pretty accurate, that comes down to pilot skill. (and a good pipper with CCIP can help a lot too!)

Quick bomb review:

Mk.82 is the 500lb,

Mk.83 is the 1,000lb,

Mk.84 is the 2,000lb.

And to stave off a question: weight is total weight, not weight of the explosive. Assume around 50/50 explosive/casing. (Shrapnel from the casing might actually do more damage than the explosion itself)

50/50? I always thought the explosives take up much less then half the weight of the egg.

[izzyfcuk]

Yup, nothing like carpet-bombing for using up old bombs. The most common loads for Hornets and Intruders in Desert Storm were Mk.82 LDGP bombs. And dumb bombs can be pretty accurate, that comes down to pilot skill. (and a good pipper with CCIP can help a lot too!)

Quick bomb review:

Mk.82 is the 500lb,

Mk.83 is the 1,000lb,

Mk.84 is the 2,000lb.

And to stave off a question: weight is total weight, not weight of the explosive. Assume around 50/50 explosive/casing. (Shrapnel from the casing might actually do more damage than the explosion itself)

Are you an EOD technician or something?

[the white drew carey]

Nah... David just reads A LOT about planes and stuff.

Anyhoo- Part of my reasoning that they are NOT the same ordnance is that, no matter which timeline you follow- TV series or DYRL, at the very least a large portion of the Eearth was blasted to a pulp in SWI. I highly doubt there was many, if any, remaining weaponry stores left on the ground after that.

[Southcross]

Nanashi, check out my post at the very bottom

Macross Zero First Impressions

[David Hingtgen]

I'd have to do a bit of searching for exact numbers, but one of my best books says "roughly" 50/50 for all Mk80-series bombs. And that is part of the "General Purpose" designation. Those with 65% explosive are "demolition" bombs, and aren't nearly as common. (They also tend to be larger--3,000lbs+)

izzyfcuk---the hard part is trying to remember the JDAMs, much harder, for they're not in order. Mk81/82/83/84 are 250/500/1000/2000 lbs--easy. But JDAM's are like 31/30/29/32 or something, in ascending order of size. I always have to look up JDAM weight/numbers. (It would have made sense for them to number the JDAM's in order, so of course it wasn't done that way)

Edited March 26, 2004 by David Hingtgen

[Retracting Head Ter Ter]

I'd have to do a bit of searching for exact numbers, but one of my best books says "roughly" 50/50 for all Mk80-series bombs. And that is part of the "General Purpose" designation. Those with 65% explosive are "demolition" bombs, and aren't nearly as common. (They also tend to be larger--3,000lbs+)

Hmmm I think you are right and I got my explosive/casing weight ratio of bombs mixed up with BB shells.

[Aurel Tristen]

The Mk-82 is a 500 lb pound bomb, that contains 192 lb of Tritonal, Minol II or H-6 new explosive. It was originally created by Douglas Aircraft.... now contracted by Nad Crane last I heard.

[David Hingtgen]

500lb bombs don't weight EXACTLY 500 pounds, btw, if someone's trying to calculate explosive percentage. Also, the bigger the bomb, the higher the percentage explosive. It's still ROUGHLY half and half, but a 2,000 pounder would have a notably higher percentage than say a 500 pounder.

[hellohikaru]

I doubt conventional dumb bombs are used that much these days especially within the US air arms.

You would more like see JDAMS and LGB type kits attached to the bombs. Collateral damage is just bad press.

[izzyfcuk]

seriously guys u ppl do sound like EOD technicians... oh ya...MK 82, 83..blah blah... are really really big earth shaking b**tards

[Aurel Tristen]

500lb bombs don't weight EXACTLY 500 pounds, btw, if someone's trying to calculate explosive percentage. Also, the bigger the bomb, the higher the percentage explosive. It's still ROUGHLY half and half, but a 2,000 pounder would have a notably higher percentage than say a 500 pounder.

That's right. 500 lb is a nominal size/class. The Mk. 82 actually weighs 531 lbs.

[Raptor]

And I assume that's not counting mounting/release hardware, and possibly not the fuze, either (Who would weigh a bomb with a fuze in? lol!).

[Berttt]

I doubt conventional dumb bombs are used that much these days especially within the US air arms.

You would more like see JDAMS and LGB type kits attached to the bombs. Collateral damage is just bad press.

After reading about close air support in Vietnam, it would seem that unguided bombs can be employed quite accurately. Australian Forward Air Controllers were quoted a saying that the quality of the pilots played a big part, USAF tended to vary from very good to mediocre, were as the US Navy pilots were invariably excellent and were preferred not just for their accuaracy, but also the superior bomb load on the A-6, as they could be kept on station longer.

[nathan]

I think they're working on ways to smarten up the old dumb bombs to avoid collateral damage but even smart bombs can be sent off target by someone with bad aim.