- Yes
- No
History
From the earliest days of the Naval Aviation, the U.S. Navy’s aerial bombs were nothing special compared to those of the U.S. Air Force.
But the 1967 USS Forrestal fire changed everything. The misfired Zuni rocket from the F-4 struck the A-4’s external fuel tank, rupturing the JP-5 fuel and caused a fire. At least one AN-M65 bomb fell into a pool of burning fuel and detonated about a minute and a half later, decimating two hose teams. A total of 10 bombs exploded in the fire, creating seven holes in the flight deck, which allowed the flames to spread to the hangar.
The fire was eventually extinguished, but the Navy lost 134 personnel and 21 aircraft by this accident. This disaster led to research on fire resistant bomb, which eventually culminated in the protection coating for the Mk 80 series bombs.
Description
Spoiler
The USN only uses thermally protected bombs on aircraft carrier for safety measure. They are easily distinguishable by their two (sometimes three) yellow stripes and rough surface. This rough surface, often referred to as “alligator skin,” is the result of the thermal protection coating.
The color of these bombs were initially green, until transition to gray in the 2000s. The gray colored tail fin (BSU-33, BSU-86, etc) introduced earlier than that, so the green warhead and gray tail combinations were common during the 1990s.
The explosive filler changed to thermally insensitive PBXN-109 in late 1980s, and these bombs were redesignated as BLU-110 (Mk 83), BLU-111 (Mk 82) and BLU-117 (Mk 84).
Variants
BLU-109
Thermally protected BLU-109/B, a 2,000 lb class penetrator with thicker case and less explosive.
Mostly used for warhead of the GBU-24B/B and GBU-56(V)4/B.
BLU-110
Thermally protected Mk 83. Also used for warhead of the GBU-16.
BLU-111
Thermally protected Mk 82. Also used for warhead of the GBU-12 and GBU-54(V)/B.
BLU-117
Thermally protected Mk 84. Also used for warhead of the GBU-56(V)2/B.
Sources
- Arming the Fleet, 1943-2011: Providing Our Warfighters the Decisive Advantage. China Lake and Point Mugu, CA: NAWCWD, 2011, pp. 43
- Characterisation of Explosive Weapons, Annex E: Mk 82 Aircraft Bomb. Geneva, Switzerland: GICHD, 2017, pp. 8-9
- Tyson V. Rininger, F-15 Eagle at War. Minneapolis, MN: Zenith Press, 2009, pp. 123
- Jen Duchow and Brian Hays, General Purpose Bomb Fast Cook-Offs Mitigation Techniques. NAS Pax River, MD: PMA-201, 2010, pp. 23
- NAVEDTRA 14313 Aviation Ordnanceman. NAS Pensacola, FL: NETPDC, 2001, pp. 1-20
- Lon Nordeen, Osprey Combat Aircraft 99: AV-8B Harrier II Units of Operation Iraqi Freedom I-VI. New York, NY: Bloomsbury Publishing, 2013, pp. 43