USAF’s ultra-lethal carbon fibre bomb approved for export - 6/29/2015 - Flight Global: The United States plans to export an advanced, tungsten-laden bomb that is designed to cause less collateral damage than its predecessors, but be more lethal.
The 227kg (500lb) BLU-129/B was originally produced by Aerojet Rocketdyne as a quick reaction capability for the war in Afghanistan as a way of reducing civilian deaths by using a cabon-fibre-wound composite shell casing to limit the blast radius. Its development followed one particularly disastrous airstrike on a wedding party in 2008 that killed dozens of women and children along with a number of Taliban insurgents.
The bomb entered service in 2011, and an initial production run of up to 800 units ended earlier this year. Now, the US Air Force says it is interested in restarting production for both domestic and international consumption, with the government approving exports to any nation that already purchases joint direct attack munition (JDAM) guidance assemblies.
