How does a MOAB work exactly?

[TheNinja]

I have looked around and I realize that it detonates approx 6 feet above ground. Now this makes perfectly good sense as you want you explosion to go outward horizontally not downward or upward. However I cannot find answers to some of my questions maybe you guys can help me out.

#1. What exactly is igniting in the air and how does the air get filled with this stuff? (I've heard something about a daisy cutter being like a propane tank with a hole in it that leaks all the way down and then when it gets 5-6 feet from the ground....BOOOM, but I don't get how that would work)
#2. What if it is windy, does it affect the airborn agent?
#3. What if you drop it in a hilly/mountainous area and it lands in a valley or on a peak?

Any more info or a link would be appreciated.

 

[abc]

what i dislike about it is that it is so physically large that you can only fit 1 into a transport plan, and it sits on a sled so that troops push it out of the plane where it freefalls. I do not believe it is dropped from a high flying B52, but a low flying cargo plane, vulnerable to AAA.

 

[ThePresence]

Here ya go (Popup Alert)

 

[Pastfinder]

the MOAB is a shock weapon. It's more economical to use 10 500-pounders than this one bomb

 

[rahvin]

Originally posted by: Staley8
I have looked around and I realize that it detonates approx 6 feet above ground. Now this makes perfectly good sense as you want you explosion to go outward horizontally not downward or upward. However I cannot find answers to some of my questions maybe you guys can help me out.

#1. What exactly is igniting in the air and how does the air get filled with this stuff? (I've heard something about a daisy cutter being like a propane tank with a hole in it that leaks all the way down and then when it gets 5-6 feet from the ground....BOOOM, but I don't get how that would work)
#2. What if it is windy, does it affect the airborn agent?
#3. What if you drop it in a hilly/mountainous area and it lands in a valley or on a peak?

Any more info or a link would be appreciated.

Moab is in Utah. Consult a map.

A fuel-air bomb works by rapid deployment of a fuel air mixture under pressure. Think instant decompression of a propane tank in all directions and ignition a second later. The destructive principle used is the same as that used in a nuclear weapon. The compression wave of the outward moving gases does the damage, along with the resultant vaccum that is formed after complete consumption of the explosive. This results in an outward moving compression wave that is then sucked back inward at the same velocity with the pressures involved being strong enough to rip all organic material into little tiny bits within range of the shockwave. The shockwave size and strength grows in distance with increases in explosive power.

 

[tcsenter]

#1. What exactly is igniting in the air and how does the air get filled with this stuff? (I've heard something about a daisy cutter being like a propane tank with a hole in it that leaks all the way down and then when it gets 5-6 feet from the ground....BOOOM, but I don't get how that would work)
#2. What if it is windy, does it affect the airborn agent?
#3. What if you drop it in a hilly/mountainous area and it lands in a valley or on a peak?

Contrary to the constant media reference to the both the Daisy Cutter BLU-82 and MOAB as "fuel air explosives", neither of those weapons are fuel air explosives. Both are air burst munitions, not fuel air explosives.

The Daisy Cutter is a ballistic weapon, meaning it has no guidance and is 'targeted' by dropping it at the right time over the target area. Daisy Cutter descends from a parachute the entire way.

MOAB has a guidance package and no parachute. It drops like a rock and detonates by timed/proximity fuzing.

The answer to all your questions are "None", "Nothing", "It doesn't", or "Not Applicable."

 

[WhiteKnight77]

MOAB - Massive Ordnance Air Blast Bomb has a video and pics of it being tested. A chute is used to drag it from the back of a C-130 and is released from it's sled during it's ballistic flight.

 

[Random Variable]

What irks me is that the DOD thinks that a 21,500-lb air-blast bomb is more important than the Crusader artillery system. :frown:

 

[charrison]

Originally posted by: Vespasian
What irks me is that the DOD thinks that a 21,500-lb air-blast bomb is more important than the Crusader artillery system. :frown:

Crusaider like the m1-a1 is too heavy to be effectivly transported in short time.

 

[Marshallj]

Originally posted by: Vespasian
What irks me is that the DOD thinks that a 21,500-lb air-blast bomb is more important than the Crusader artillery system. :frown:

I doubt the cost of these systems is anywhere comparable.

 

[Marshallj]

Originally posted by: WhiteKnight77
MOAB - Massive Ordnance Air Blast Bomb has a video and pics of it being tested. A chute is used to drag it from the back of a C-130 and is released from it's sled during it's ballistic flight.

The MOAB is guided, it does not follow a ballistic flight.

 

[WhiteKnight77]

Now I may not be the smartest egg in the carton, but before it can be guided properly there has to be ballistic tendencies. It starts falling as soon as it leaves the ramp of the sky pig. Once free of the sled, it is controlled by it's guidance system. Now if the guidance system fails it still is a ballistic weapon.

 

[Marshallj]

Originally posted by: WhiteKnight77
Now I may not be the smartest egg in the carton, but before it can be guided properly there has to be ballistic tendencies. It starts falling as soon as it leaves the ramp of the sky pig. Once free of the sled, it is controlled by it's guidance system. Now if the guidance system fails it still is a ballistic weapon.

Yes, if the guidance system fails, then it is a ballistic weapon. Well sort of, anyway.

It does have little wings so it can glide a bit. You'd be surprised at how far a bomb can glide. I saw a video before of a laser guided bomb, and it was accelerated on a small rocket powered rail car to about 300 mph, and it rose off the car a few hundred feet and glided to its target. They were demonstrating how much authority the fins on the LGB have over its flight.

A bullet follows a ballistic path, something that glides doesn't.

The dictionary definition at work here is: relating to or characteristic of the motion of objects moving under their own momentum and the force of gravity.

The flight characteristics of something with control surfaces or wings is not the same as an unassisted projectile like a bullet, which just follows a common arc. A bullet is ballistic as is a dumb bomb, a guided bomb is not. But if you rip off the wings or fins then it'll just fall like a rock would.

 

[WhiteKnight77]

Now I have been around military bases from the day I was born (in an AF hospital mind you) and have grown up around and have lived near a military installation all my life along with being in the air wing of the Marines. Now any kind of bomb dropped from an aircraft of any sort will fall forward and descend to the ground in an arc whether guided or not, which make them ballistic. It is phsyically impossible for a bobm to fall striaght to the ground. Even high drag bombs like snake-eyes (they have fins that pop out to slow them down) that are used on low level fighter/bomber and attack aircraft fall forward. All bombs have fins tho not all (dumb bombs) are not controlable. Fins are added to all bombs no matter what kind it is.

When a bomb is dropped from a plane that is flying at 500MPH, the bomb too is flying at 500MPH and keeps that speed when released. Once released the bomb will fall and stay directly beneath the plane in its ballistic path to the ground. As long as the plane keeps the same heading as it had when the bomb was pickled, it will impact and explode underneath the plane (as this is the reason why snake-eyes were developed.) This fits the definition you supplied very well. Even a guided weapon fits into this catagory. GBUs that rely on a laser depend on a very narrow cone of reflected laser light in order to hit the intended target. JDAMS which use GPS signals to guide them still have a ballistic trajectory but don't rely on a small cone and needs accurate info from the satellites.

 

[Mookow]

Originally posted by: WhiteKnight77
Now I have been around military bases from the day I was born (in an AF hospital mind you) and have grown up around and have lived near a military installation all my life along with being in the air wing of the Marines. Now any kind of bomb dropped from an aircraft of any sort will fall forward and descend to the ground in an arc whether guided or not, which make them ballistic. It is phsyically impossible for a bobm to fall striaght to the ground. Even high drag bombs like snake-eyes (they have fins that pop out to slow them down) that are used on low level fighter/bomber and attack aircraft fall forward. All bombs have fins tho not all (dumb bombs) are not controlable. Fins are added to all bombs no matter what kind it is.

When a bomb is dropped from a plane that is flying at 500MPH, the bomb too is flying at 500MPH and keeps that speed when released. Once released the bomb will fall and stay directly beneath the plane in its ballistic path to the ground. As long as the plane keeps the same heading as it had when the bomb was pickled, it will impact and explode underneath the plane (as this is the reason why snake-eyes were developed.) This fits the definition you supplied very well. Even a guided weapon fits into this catagory. GBUs that rely on a laser depend on a very narrow cone of reflected laser light in order to hit the intended target. JDAMS which use GPS signals to guide them still have a ballistic trajectory but don't rely on a small cone and needs accurate info from the satellites.

Well, technically, the bomb will be decelerating (horizontally) the whole way as a result of drag. However, for a low level bomb run this deceleration is very small.

 

[Parrotheader]

Does anybody know where I can view a high-speed video clip of a fuel air explosive in action? I remember seeing one probably 8 years ago of one at a testing range coming in at an angle above this house in slow motion. It was really impressive to see the umbrella-shaped fuel spray it emitted then watch as the fuel was ignited and created a pressure wave which obliterated the structure. I've been looking everywhere for that clip and can't find it.