F-15E: 5 targets

On Aug 3/07, the US DSCA formally announced Israel’s request [PDF] for various US bombs and precision guidance kits. Requested items include 10,000 live MK-84 2,000-lb. bombs; 1,500 live MK-82 500-lb. bombs; 2,000 live BLU-109 2,000-lb. bombs with penetrator warheads; JDAM tail kits that add GPS/INS guidance to bombs (10,000); Paveway II laser-guidance kits for the 500-lb. MK-82 (2,500), the 1,000-lb. MK-83 (500), and the 2,000 pound MK-84 (1,000) bombs; 10,000 FMU-139 live fuze components; 10,000 FMU-152 live fuze components; and 50 GBU-28 Enhanced Paveway III 5,000-lb. ‘bunker buster’ laser/GPS guided live bombs. The total value, if all options are exercised, could be as high as $465 million.

Israel already has all of these munitions in its inventory, which was depleted during its 2006 war against Hezbollah, Syria, and Iran. It also produces many similar devices domestically, but can allocate American foreign assistance dollars to pay American firms and so Israel always finds itself balancing domestic capabilities and spending against American industry purchases. Amidst rumors of a planned attack by Iran, Syria, and Hezbollah in late 2007, rapid replenishment may also be a consideration. The principal contractors will be:

• Boeing subsidiary McDonnell Douglas Corporation in St. Charles, MO (JDAM kits)
• Alliant Techsystems Incorporated in Janesville, WI (ATK makes fuzes and explosives)
• Alliant Techsystems Incorporated in Clearwater, FL
• Lockheed-Martin Aerospace Corporation in Fort Worth, TX (Paveway orders, note trademark dispute with Raytheon)
• Northrop Grumman Company in Los Angeles, CA
• Honeywell Corporation in Clearwater, FL
• General Dynamics in Garland, TX (Mk82 & Mk84 bomb bodies)

Mk81-84 bomb family

The US Defense Security Cooperation Agency has notified Congress of Israel’s request for 3,500 MK-84 general purpose bomb units, which are 2,000 pound bomb bodies. The Mk84 versions Israel is requesting would carry about 945 pounds of tritonal (about 80% TNT/ 20% aluminum) explosives, as opposed to using H-6. Mk80 family weapons can be fitted with a number of kits to give them laser guidance, GPS/INS guidance, extended range, and/or other capabilities as required; the Israelis have created kits of their own for such purposes, including the Spice GPS/laser guided weapon. The total value of this contract, if all options are exercised, could be as high as $65 million.

The deal would also entail testing, support equipment, spares and repair parts, supply support, personnel training and training equipment, publications and technical data, U.S. Government and contractor technical assistance, and other related elements of logistics support. The prime contractor will be General Dynamics in Garland, TX; Israel has used Mk 84s for a long time, and there are no known offset agreements in connection with this proposed sale. See DSCA release [PDF format].

Mk-80 Bomb Bodies

General Dynamics in Garland, TX received a delivery order amount of $44.9 million as part of a $104.5 million firm-fixed-price contract for MK80 series bomb bodies. Work will be performed in Garland, TX and is expected to be complete by Dec. 31, 2010. This was a sole source contract initiated on Feb. 16, 2006 by the U.S. Army Field Support Command in Rock Island, IL (W52P1J-06-D-0006).

General Dynamics Ordnance and Tactical Systems adds that delivery order covers a combination of 500 lb., 1,000 lb. and 2,000 lb. bomb bodies, totaling more than 25,000 units, for the U.S. Navy and Air Force. They say “bomb bodies” because bombs are produced in sections, with threaded holes at front and back for mixing and matching add-ons like different guidance sections, fuzes, tail fin kits to get different ranges and types of performance, et. al.

MK80 Bomb Structure

General Dynamics OTS is the world’s only manufacturer of MK80 Series Bomb Bodies that conform to the U.S. Dept. of Defense’s approved technical data packages. In this capacity, General Dynamics OTS is the U.S. Government’s restricted source of supply for all MK80 Series General Purpose Bomb Bodies, both tactical and inert training rounds.

Existing GBU-28 Bomb

Oct 4/06: The Boeing Company in St Louis, MO received a $9 million indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity, cost-plus-fixed-fee contract modification. This effort will design and test “a large penetrating munition” in order to “demonstrate the weapon’s lethality against multi-story building with hardened bunkers and tunnel facilities,” and to reduce technology risk for future development. This program is funded by the US Defense Threat Reduction Agency, and work will be complete October 2009. The Air Force Research Laboratory at Eglin Air Force Base, FL issued the contract (FA8651-04-D-0427/P00002).

The USA already has the 5,000 pound GBU-28 “bunker-buster” bomb. Details regarding this new weapon were not released, though its statement of capabilities lead one to believe it is more of a weapon for situations similar to Hezbollah-Iran-Syria’s recent “Rocket War,” rather than a substitute for the nuclear RNEP.

BSU-85/B

General Dynamics in Garland, TX received an $18.7 million firm-fixed-price contract for BSU-85/B bomb retarder fin assemblies. These are especially useful for low-altitude work. Work will be performed in Garland, TX and is expected to be complete by Sept. 30, 2008. Bids were solicited via the World Wide Web on Nov. 18, 2005, and two bids were received by the Army Field Support Command, Rock Island, Ill., is the contracting activity (W52P1J-06-C-0027).

Things that make you
go BOOM…

Thermobaric weapons are also known as “fuel-air explosives,” though their composition has become more complex in recent years, and no longer uses unreliable fuel-air mixes. They’re also no longer confined to the bombs that were used to clear helicopter landing zones in Vietnam, or even the gargantuan 15,000-pound BLU-82 Commando Vault/”Daisy Cutter” [see Graphic | Flash] and 21,000-pound, H6 explosive (RDX, TNT & aluminum powder) filled GBU-43B “MOAB” bombs.

All the way at the other end of the scale, they’re finding their way into portable rocket launchers like the SMAW, RPG, etc. DID noted this very trend in our March 10, 2005 coverage of the LAW rocket’s return, and similar man-portable thermobaric rockets proved extremely effective during the Second Battle of Fallujah in November 2004. Fortified buildings used as strongholds by Islamist paramilitary death squads were sometimes caved in with a single shot from a US Marine Corps SMAW-NE (Shoulder-Mounted Antitank Weapon, New Explosive). As reader Robert Schmidt points out…

BLU-109/B Penetrator:
Battery Kits Are Extra

Small business qualifier Ellwood National Forge Co. in Irvine, PA received a $6.9 million modification to a firm-fixed-price contract for BLU-109/B Empty Cases, and CNU-417 Containers for Multiple Air Force Weapons Platforms. The BLU-109/B (I-2000) is an improved 2,000-pound-class bomb designed as a penetrator without a forward fuze well. Its configuration is relatively slim in order to help it punch through concrete, and its skin is a single-piece, forged warhead casing of one-inch, high-grade steel that’s much harder than that of the standard MK-84 bomb. The BLU-109/B can be mated with a laser guidance kit to form a GBU-24/A penetrator bomb, or it can be fitted with a JDAM GPS/INS guidance kit.

Work on this contract will be performed in Irvine, PA and is expected to be complete by Dec. 31, 2006. This was a sole source contract initiated on Aug. 18, 2005 by the U.S. Army Field Support Command at Rock Island, IL (DAAA09-01-C-0049).

MK80 Bomb Structure

ATK Tactical Systems Co. LLC in Rocket Center, WV received a $14.5 million firm-fixed-price contract modification to provide for the DSU-33B/B proximity sensor, a nose-mounted radio frequency proximity sensor used on M117 and MK-80 series general-purpose bombs and the Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM).

This action is for procurement of 12,675 additional DSU-33B/B proximity sensors and cables for the Navy and 350 sensors and cables, 20 D-2 trainers and 6 D-5 trainers for foreign military sales under Option 4 of the contract.

Mk-80 Bomb Bodies

General Dynamics OTS of Garland, TX received an $89.7M modification to a firm fixed price contract for Various Quantities of MK80 Series Bomb Bodies. They range from 500 – 2,000 pounds, and are designed to have fuze and tail assemblies attached at the front and at the rear. Depending on the attachments fitted, the results can be simple unguided bombs, or various types of guided “smart bombs”. Work will be performed in Garland, Texas, and is expected to be complete by July 31/06.

General Dynamics OTS is the world’s only manufacturer of MK80 Series Bomb Bodies that conforms to the U.S. Dept. of Defense’s approved technical data packages. In this capacity, General Dynamics OTS is the U.S. Government’s restricted source of supply for all MK80 Series General Purpose Bomb Bodies, both tactical and inert training rounds. The U.S. Army Joint Munitions Command, Rock Island, IL issued the contract (DAAA09-03-C-0041).