Uranium warheads

On 8th October a weapons researcher located US Patent application 6,389,977 submitted by Lockheed Martin Corporation on December 11, 1997 for a "Shrouded Aerial Bomb". This defined the upgrading of the 2000 lb BLU-109/B warhead with the Advanced Unitary Penetrator (now known as AUP or BLU-116). This provides an outer shell or "shroud" that looks like the earlier warhead to maintain similar aerodynamic characteristics and to use the same range of guidance and delivery options (see Figure 1). The upgraded warhead is used in the GBU-15, GBU-24, GBU-27 and GBU-31 guided bombs and in the rocket boosted AGM-130C version of the GBU-15. The patent also provides for adaption to similar weapons of different sizes e.g. the GBU-32 1000 lb guided bomb.

e Patent clearly provides design concepts for both Tungsten AND Depleted Uranium "penetrating bodies" (advanced penetrators) shown in Figure 2 of the patent application above. See extracts from the Patent record below:

"A target penetrating aerial bomb including a penetrating body shaped for improved target penetration, having a narrower impact profile at approximately the same weight as an existing bomb.

An aerodynamic shroud encases the penetrating body and emulates the aerodynamic shape of the existing bomb, and the weight, center of gravity, and moments of inertia of the bomb closely approximate those properties of the existing bomb. The bomb constructed according to the present invention may be qualified by similarity to the existing bomb, thus avoiding lengthy and costly qualification procedures.

a penetrating body having a nose section shaped with an ogive and having a hollow bore with an opening at a tail end and extending toward the nose section; and an aerodynamic shroud mounted to an outer surface of the penetrating body, the shroud including means for securing the shroud to the penetrating body, wherein an aerodynamic shape of the shroud is substantially identical to an aerodynamic shape of a selected, qualified aerial bomb and the penetrating body and shroud have a weight, center of gravity, and moments of inertia substantially similar to a weight, center of gravity, and moments of inertia of said selected, qualified aerial bomb.

The present invention relates to aerial bombs, that is, bombs dropped from aircraft, and more particularly, to aerial bombs for penetrating hard targets.

More particularly, the present invention provides a bomb having an improved penetrating warhead, that is, a warhead that more deeply penetrates a protected target, however, the bomb is substantially identical in aerodynamic and mass properties to a qualified [already patented] bomb.

The bomb (20) includes a penetrating body (24) or warhead (shown in FIG. 2) and a shroud (40) shaped to emulate the aerodynamic shape of an existing, qualified bomb. In the exemplary embodiment, the bomb (20) is shaped to emulate the BLU-109/B bomb, that is, the outer shape of the shroud (40) is substantially identical to the outer shape of the hard case of the BLU-109/B. In addition, the weight, center of gravity, and moments of inertia of the bomb (20) are substantially identical to those physical characteristics of the BLU-109/B.

It is understood that the invention is not limited to a particular diameter or weight ratio as compared to an emulated bomb. The diameter and weight of the warhead are to be selected, for example, for the penetrating and explosive functions desired, within the constraint of the total weight of the warhead and shroud being approximately equal to that of the emulated weapon.

A further search of the US Patent database revealed 6 other warhead designs that specifically include the use of Uranium as an alternative to Tungsten. These include the patent for the new Tactical Tomahawk Penetrator Version warhead and for the Explosively Formed Penetrator (EFP) used in the CBU-97 Cluster Bomb.