USA - GBU-43/B MOAB

MOAB, according to some media Fuel-Air Explosives (fuel-air, or aerosol, or thermobaric, or vacuum weapons) is in fact the largest bomb with conventional munitions. Its explosive charge consists of tritonal, which is an 80:20 mixture of TNT and aluminum powder. The potency of this mixture is roughly 18% greater than that of pure TNT (according to some sources, the explosive component is H6, which consists of a mixture of RDX (45%), TNT (30%), powdered aluminum (20%), and a phlegmatizer (paraffin, 5%)), giving a destructive force equivalent to about 11 tons of TNT.



Blast radius (absolute destruction): 137.61m
Composition: BLU-120/B (bomb body), KMU-593/B (control and guidance system)
Guidance: GPS, inertial navigation system



Origin:
Development of the GBU-43/B began in mid-2002, when the Munitions Directorate of the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) began work on attempts to equip the bomb with a BLU-82/B guidance system. At the time, the BLU-82/B was the largest conventional bomb in the U.S. arsenal and was originally designed to create landing space for helicopters in the jungles of Vietnam. It was also used in Afghanistan in 2001, but its use without a guidance system endangered the bomb's delivery vehicle, a C-130 Hercules aircraft, which could fall victim to ground-based anti-aircraft fire from around the target.


The trials resulted in a design change (redesign of the aerodynamic surfaces) and an enlargement of the original bomb BLU-82/B. The designation of the new, enlarged unguided bomb was BLU-120/B.


On 7 March 2003, the GBU-43/B was successfully launched for the first time at a training target, as yet without an explosive charge; on 11 March 2003, it was successfully tested with an explosive charge (Eglin Air Force Base, Florida). No combat use has yet occurred, although one was moved to Iraq in April 2003, where it was reportedly counted on to suppress resistance from Tikrit defenders (ATM 11/2007).


As a carrier, a faster C-130 in addition to the C-17 is being counted on for the future.



Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MOAB
ATM 11/2007
www.designation-systems.net
http://www.bellum.nu/armoury/GBU43BMOAB.html
www.globalsecurity.org

The creator of the GBU-43/B bomb, Al Weimorts (left), and Joseph Fellenz at the bomb prototype before it was painted and testing began.

Mountingž the KMU-593/B guidance and control system on the body of a BLU-120/B bomb during tests in March 2003, Eglin Air Force Armament Center (USAF photo).

A prototype of the bomb moments before impact, March 11, 2003.

GBU-43/B MOAB "ready for use if required". The picture was taken at an "unknown" base in the Persian Gulf area (Ali Al Salim in Kuwait ????) apparently during Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003.

13.04.2017 was the first known combat use of the GBU-43 bomb. The bomb was used to bomb an underground compound of the Afghan branch of ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria) in Nangarhar province ( ) near the border with Pakistan.

Source: www.cbsnews.com