FACT FILE: Cluster Bomb Units
These bombs are designed primarily to destroy infantry formations
or damage other large areas like airstrips or vehicle parks. The CBM is
composed of hundreds of small explosive charges (known as submunitions
or bomblets) contained in a larger canister or casing. Upon release by
the launch vehicle, the CBM falls to a preset altitude and then breaks
open, scattering its submunitions across the target area. Generally, these
submunitions are set to explode on impact, but a delayed arming version
is available for use as a scatterable minefield. This is useful in denying
the enemy use of a landing area, a highway or other vehicle movement area.
CBMs are devastating to exposed infantry or light vehicles.
CBMs can be guided or unguided, and can accept the same control units and seeker heads that LD gravity bombs can use.
Bomb Nomenclature
There is a very wide array of bombs available to the SFMC, but
they fall into general categories that each have there own designating
prefix for the bomb's nomenclature: LD (low drag), HD (high drag), GBU
(guided bomb unit), CBU (cluster bomb unit), AP (armor-piercing), FAE (fuel/air
explosive), M/A (matter/antimatter). The number that follows is particular
to the series of bombs in question and gets larger with the size of the
bomb's warhead. For example, HD-8500 designates a high drag (HD), high
explosive gravity bomb (8xxx series), with a 500kg warhead.
Some material on this page ruthlessly plagerized from the SFMC's Aerospace Branch Manual by Matt Kelley and available from SFMC Academy.
WebPage designed & maintained by Kevin "MAC" Nulty
