Mark 84 General Purpose bomb
TypeLow-drag general-purpose bomb
Place of originUnited States
Service history
In serviceSince 1950s
Production history
ManufacturerGeneral Dynamics Ordnance and Tactical Systems
Unit costUS$16,000
Variants
Specifications
Mass1,971 lb (894 kg)
Length12 ft 7 in (3.84 m)
Diameter18 in (460 mm)
FillingTritonal, H6 or PBXN-109
Filling weight944 lb (428 kg)
ReferencesJanes[1][2][3][4][5] & The War Zone[6]

The Mark 84 or BLU-117[7] is a 2,000 pounds (907 kg) American general-purpose bomb. It is the largest of the Mark 80 series of weapons. Entering service during the Vietnam War, it became a commonly used US heavy unguided bomb (due to the amount of high-explosive content packed inside) to be dropped. At the time, it was the third largest bomb by weight in the US inventory behind the 15,000-pound (6,800 kg) BLU-82 "Daisy Cutter" and the 3,000-pound (1,400 kg) M118 "demolition" bomb. It is currently sixth in size due to the addition of the 5,000 lb (2,300 kg) GBU-28 in 1991, the 22,600 lb (10,300 kg) GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast bomb (MOAB) in 2003, and the 30,000 lb (14,000 kg) Massive Ordnance Penetrator.

Development and use

An aviation ordnance technician handling the bomb body of a "thermally protected" (insulated to slow cook-off time in case of fire) Mark 84 aboard the USS George Washington
Sailors remove hoisting sling from a crate containing a pair of Mark 84 bomb bodies. Tailfins and fuzes have not yet been fitted

The Mark 84 has a nominal weight of 2,000 lb (907 kg), but its actual weight varies depending on its fin, fuze options, and retardation configuration, from 1,972 to 2,083 lb (894 to 945 kg). It is a streamlined steel casing filled with 945 lb (429 kg) of Tritonal high explosive.[8]

The Mark 84 is capable of forming a crater 50 feet (15 m) wide and 36 ft (11 m) deep. It can penetrate up to 15 inches (38 cm) of metal or 11 ft (3.4 m) of concrete, depending on the height from which it is dropped, and causes lethal fragmentation to a radius of 400 yards (370 m).[9]

Many Mark 84s have been retrofitted with stabilizing and retarding devices to provide precision guidance capabilities. They serve as the warhead of a variety of precision-guided munitions, including the GBU-10/GBU-24/GBU-27 Paveway laser-guided bombs, GBU-15 electro-optical bomb, GBU-31 JDAM and Quickstrike sea mines.[10] The HGK is a Turkish guidance kit used to convert 2000-lb Mark 84 bombs into GPS/INS guided smart bombs.[11]

According to a test report conducted by the United States Navy's Weapon System Explosives Safety Review Board (WSESRB) established in the wake of the 1967 USS Forrestal fire, the cooking off time for a Mk 84 is approximately 8 minutes 40 seconds.

In March 2016, a Saudi coalition jet struck a Yemeni market—reportedly with a US-supplied precision-guided Mk 84 bomb—killing 97 people.[12]

Mk 84 exploding in North Vietnam, 1972

See also

References

  1. ↑ Janes (26 July 2022), "Mk 80 general‐purpose bombs (BLU‐110/111/117/126/129)", Janes Weapons: Air Launched, Coulsdon, Surrey: Jane's Group UK Limited., retrieved 29 May 2023
  2. ↑ Janes (29 November 2022), "GBU‐10/12/16/58 Paveway II", Janes Weapons: Air Launched, Coulsdon, Surrey: Jane's Group UK Limited., retrieved 29 May 2023
  3. ↑ Janes (21 November 2022), "GBU‐15 modular guided weapon", Janes Weapons: Air Launched, Coulsdon, Surrey: Jane's Group UK Limited., retrieved 29 May 2023
  4. ↑ Janes (1 December 2022), "GBU‐22, GBU‐24, GBU‐27 Paveway III, and Enhanced Paveway III", Janes Weapons: Air Launched, Coulsdon, Surrey: Jane's Group UK Limited., retrieved 29 May 2023
  5. ↑ Janes (29 November 2022), "GBU‐31/32/38 Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM)", Janes Weapons: Air Launched, Coulsdon, Surrey: Jane's Group UK Limited., retrieved 29 May 2023
  6. ↑ Newdick, Thimas; Rogoway, Tyler (15 December 2022). "What Joint Direct Attack Munitions could do for Ukraine". The War Zone. Miami, New York & San Francisco: Recurrent Ventures. Retrieved 29 May 2023.
  7. ↑ "Fiscal Year 2011 Budget Estimate Procurement of Ammunition" (PDF). US Air Force. Archived from the original (PDF) on 20 April 2012. Retrieved 29 December 2011.
  8. ↑ "Mk84 General Purpose Bomb". Federation of American Scientists. 23 April 2000. Archived from the original on 6 November 2010. Retrieved 1 September 2010.
  9. ↑ Don, Holloway (March 1996). "STEALTH SECRETS OF THE F-117 NIGHTHAWK: Its development was kept under wraps for 14 years, but by 1991, the F-117 nighthawk had become a household word". Aviation History. Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Cowles Magazines. ISSN 1076-8858.
  10. ↑ "Mk 65 Quick Strike Mine". Federation of American Scientists. 8 December 1998. Archived from the original on 18 September 2010. Retrieved 1 September 2010.
  11. ↑ "Precision Guidance Kit (HGK)". TÜBİTAK-SAGE. 2013. Archived from the original on 22 February 2016. Retrieved 28 February 2016.
  12. ↑ Nima Elbagir; Salma Abdelaziz; Ryan Browne; Barbara Arvanitidis; Laura Smith-Spark. "Bomb that killed 40 children in Yemen was supplied by US". CNN. Archived from the original on 18 August 2018. Retrieved 18 August 2018.

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