Editors' Pick|95,542 views|Jun 3, 2020,11:58am EDT
Why U.S. Air Force’s CLEAVER Could Be A Step Change In Air Weapons
David HamblingContributor
Last week the Air Force announced it had successfully test-dropped a new type of munition called CLEAVER from one of its special operations MC-130J Commando II aircraft. In one sense this is just the latest in a long history of releasing weapons from transport planes, but in another it is a milestone towards a very different type of air strike.
The Commando II is a heavily modified version of the four-engined C-130 Hercules transport, which proved itself a surprisingly effective bomber during the Vietnam War. The new role came out of Project Commando Vault, a U.S. Army effort to create landing sites for helicopters in dense jungle using explosives. No existing bomb was powerful enough, and this led to the development of the mammoth BLU-82, a 15,000-pound monster delivered by parachute. Too big for bombers, the BLU-82 was dropped by C-130s. Rather than the standard TNT, the BLU-82 was loaded with a high-energy gelled slurry explosive of ammonium nitrate and powdered aluminum. The blast created a landing area which would otherwise take weeks to clear.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidhambling/2020/06/03/why-us-air-forces-cleaver-is-a-new-type-of-bomb/amp/
