Just a bomb. US Air Force completes series of armor-piercing ordnance tests

On October 7, an F-15E Strike Eagle heavy fighter-bomber dropped a GBU-72 armor-piercing bomb at an altitude of 10,000 meters above Eglin Air Base. Thus, the US Air Force has completed a series of tests of the new armor-piercing bomb GBU-72 weighing 2.3 tons. It has been announced that the lethality of the GBU-72 will be significantly higher than that of the comparable GBU-28, which the US military has used in various military conflicts for three decades.

The series of tests consisted of three flights, & nbsp; In addition to the bombardments, the military conducted a series of ground tests at Eglin Base, during which the bomb head was detonated in order to obtain data on its damaging effects. Although details of its capabilities have not been disclosed, the GBU-72 program manager claims that its lethality will be far greater than that of the GBU-28. The latter is capable of penetrating more than six meters of reinforced concrete. & Nbsp;

The GBU-72 program is now moving to additional JDAM integration test flights. Experimental and operational tests await new weapons in 2022.

The GBU-72 armor-piercing bomb has been in development since at least 2017 to replace the GBU-28, which has been in service since 1991. The US Air Force plans to start purchasing GBU-72s next year and to purchase 125 units. Fighters and bombers should carry this ammunition, while the military does not say which plane it will be.

The GBU-72 comes equipped with a modified JDAM free-fall bomb conversion kit that allows them to be guided to specific coordinates. JDAM includes wings and a controlled tail. It is typically used on lighter ammunition such as the 907 kg GBU-31. Rather than letting the weapon rely on gravity to strike the target directly, JDAM turns unguided bombs into GPS-guided munitions that can reach specific coordinates.

The GBU-72 was designed to strike targets that were fortified and located underground. & nbsp;

The purpose of the tests was to demonstrate that the bomb can be safely dropped from an aircraft and to confirm that the modified JDAM kit is capable of driving a bomb weighing 2300 kilograms.

Experts believe the US military will use a bomb to destroy bunkers in North Korea and Iran.

https://www.eglin.af.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/2806518/eglin- test-esquadron-releases-gbu-72-for-first-time/

Источник aif.ru

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