Pentagon taps General Dynamics to test fireball bunker bomb - 8/20/2015 - Flight Global: The US Air Force could soon have a new air-delivered tool in its arsenal for destroying chemical and biological weapons – a Hammer, fittingly, or Heated And Mobile Munitions Employing Rockets.
A $7.2 million contract recently awarded to General Dynamics Ordnance and Tactical Systems Aerospace furthers the development of a new munitions concept, which involves littering an underground bunker or weapons storage facility with hundreds of 2.4kg (5.5lb) rocket-propelled fireballs designed to incinerate chemical and biological agents at temperatures in excess 538°C (1,000°F).
The “kinetic fireball incendiaries” would be delivered inside a 907kg (2,000lb) BLU-109B bunker bomb – which has enough punching power to penetrate 1.8m (6ft) of reinforced concrete.
A spokeswoman for the air force’s armaments directorate at Eglin AFB in Florida tells Flightglobal that over the next nine months, General Dynamics will demonstrate three basic subsystem functions – ejection, ignition and dispersal. Additional contract options are available to fund static and sled testing of the complete HAMMER weapon system.
There are currently no flight tests planned, since that depends on the success of the sled tests.
