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Article: Hard nut crackers: the Pentagon's top priority in weapon developments is to find a means to deal effectively yet safely with deeply buried facilities used for the production and storage of chemical and biological materials. This follows decades of penetration weapon development, directed first at bridges and airfields, and later at underground command and control bunkers.(Air-to-Ground)
- Article from:
- Armada International
- Article date:
- December 1, 2003
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2003 Armada International. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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One early challenge was to penetrate runways from a low release. This required a special bomb, first retarded into a steep descent, then rocket-boosted for a high velocity impact. One example is the 52 kg MBDA Kriss submunition, ten of which are carried in the company's Apache cruise missile. Each Kriss is accelerated to 400 metres/sec by a Bayern-Chemie Protac rocket to penetrate the runway and explode beneath it. The same parachute-and-rocket approach is used for the Bazalt Betab submunition.
The US Air Force has long been confident of making medium altitude tactical incursions, allowing hard targets to be attacked with more conventional bombs, using ...