FACT FILE: Low Drag Gravity Bombs
The gravity bomb is one of the oldest weapons in existence.
These are the simplest bombs, having no guidance system whatsoever, and
therefore being immune to most countermeasures. Gravity bombs, also known
as "dumb bombs" or "bricks" are composed of a casing,
a large explosive charge and a detonator. They are rarely used these days
due to the higher efficiency of guided weapons, but there are applications
for which they are still useful. Best of all, they are the least expensive
weapon in the aresenal, so great quantities can be used for relatively
little cost. Gravity bombs are not accurate, relying on the pilot to place
them on target, and may miss the target due to wind or movement of the
target.
Low Drag bombs, known by their LD designator, have simple stabilizing fins which keep the bomb on a straight ballistic course on leaving the craft. They come in sizes ranging from 50kg to 1000kg, can be fused with proximity, impact, or delayed-impact fuses, and come in HE (high explosive), incendiary, and anti-personnel models.
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.
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
