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The MOAB bomb is the reincarnation of a delivery system first produced and tested at China Lake Naval Weapons Center in California in the early 70’s where two technicians were killed in an accidental detonation. In Vietnam conventional bombs were proving ineffective against troops in bunkers and in heavily forested areas where the trees would absorb most of the shrapnel from a weapon. MOAB is what is called a fuel air bomb (FAE) or fuel air explosive. The Russians have used it in Chechnya with excellent results.

These weapons were discontinued in the U.S.shortly after their development for what were described as “humanitarian” reasons. They were not deployed although research continued. 

The new device - MOAB - is larger (21,000 pounds) and satellite guided (GPS) to within a one meter accuracy. It is a weapon designed to kill enemy troops in concealed and protected positions over a wide effective radius of several hundred meters. The weapon creates a massive wave of super pressure followed by a near vacuum. This causes barometric (pressure) injuries to the lungs (barotrauma). There is no effective treatment, other than symptomatic, for these injuries.

The lungs are ruptured as are the eyes and massive oral and nasal blood loss occur. Death near ground zero is instantaneous and around the margins of the effective blast area the injuries are horrific and usually fatal as well. Those outside the "kill zone" are debilitated and critically injured.

The only protection from such a weapon is to be contained within a sealed chamber not subject to the pressure effect. There is also a considerable blast effect.

Used against troops in the open or in trenches the weapon has a terrorizing effect due to the unpleasant nature of the injuries it causes and the inability of normal defensive postures to protect against its effects. 

February 2000

On December 27, 1999, Interfax reported Russian forces were using fuel-air explosive bombs in the fighting in Chechnya.⁽¹⁾ The use of fuel-air explosives (FAEs), popularly known in Russia as "vacuum bombs," represents a dangerous escalation in the Chechnya conflict--one with important humanitarian implications. FAEs are more powerful than conventional high-explosive munitions of comparable size, are more likely to kill and injure people in bunkers, shelters, and caves, and kill and injure in a particularly brutal manner over a wide area. In urban settings it is very difficult to limit the effect of this weapon to combatants, and the nature of FAE explosions makes it virtually impossible for civilians to take shelter from their destructive effect.

According to one Russian military scientist writing for the Russian military magazine Voyennyye Znaniya (Military Knowledge), FAE weapons are effective against exposed personnel, combat equipment, fortified areas and individual defensive fortifications, clearing passages in minefields, clearing landing sites for helicopters, destroying communication centers, and neutralizing strongholds in house-to-house fighting in a city.⁽²⁾ In addition, he stated that "fuel-air explosives are capable…of completely destroying in a given area vegetation and agricultural crops that have been planted." "In its destructive capability, it is comparable to low-yield nuclear munitions."⁽³⁾

Used in large numbers, fuel-air explosives and other blast weapons can have enormous destructive effects. When multiple FAE warheads are exploded, the different blast waves reinforce each other, increasing their destructive power.⁽⁴⁾ The effect of blast weapons is also compounded in buildings and other enclosed spaces, and is twelve to sixteen times more destructive than conventional high explosives against targets with large surface areas, such as frame buildings, bunkers, and vehicle shelters.⁽⁵⁾

Because FAEs cover a wide area, they are prone to indiscriminate use, especially in or near populated areas. Since this weapon is very effective against personnel in fortifications, bunkers, and other buildings, Russian forces may be tempted to use them in towns and cities where Chechen fighters are dug in. In urban settings it will be impossible for the Russians military to limit the destructive effect of this weapon to combatants and very difficult for civilians to take shelter from the FAE's effect.

So far, the Russian military has reportedly used FAE bombs against the Dagestani village of Tando, in August 1999,⁽⁶⁾and more recently in the southern mountains of Chechnya.⁽⁷⁾

How FAEs Work

A typical fuel air explosive device consists of a container of fuel and two separate explosive charges. After the munition is dropped or fired, the first explosive charge bursts open the container at a predetermined height and disperses the fuel in a cloud that mixes with atmospheric oxygen (the size of the cloud varies with the size of the munition). The cloud of fuel flows around objects and into structures. The second charge then detonates the cloud, creating a massive blast wave. (For a demonstration of a FAE explosion, see the U.S. Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division, China Lake, California, page at "http://www.nawcwpns.navy.mil/clmf/faeseq.html".) The blast wave destroys unreinforced buildings and equipment and kills and injures personnel. The antipersonnel effect of the blast wave is more severe in foxholes, on personnel with body armor, and in enclosed spaces such as caves, buildings, and bunkers.

Fuel-air explosives were first developed, and used in Vietnam, by the United States. Soviet scientists, however, quickly developed their own FAE weapons, which were reportedly used against China in a 1969 border conflict and in Afghanistan. Since then research and development has continued and currently Russian forces field a wide array of third-generation FAE warheads.

In addition to classic FAE munitions, Soviet scientists have also developed other "enhanced-blast" munitions, particularly reactive-surround and slurry-explosive blast warheads. Both types of warheads work on the same principle by which the explosive is dispersed and mixed with atmospheric oxygen before the detonation process is completed. The destruction, death, and injury are caused by the blast wave. Reactive-surround warheads are thin-walled containers filled with combustible aluminum and nitrocellulose. Slurry-explosive warheads are a mixture of a high explosive or other explosive solid mixed with a combustible liquid.

Blast Injuries

Blast explosives kill or injure in three ways: with the blast wave; with flying debris or by collapsing buildings; and by the blast wind throwing bodies against the ground, equipment, structures, and other stationary objects.

According to a 1993 study by the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency:

The [blast] kill mechanism against living targets is unique--and unpleasant.... What kills is the pressure wave, and more importantly, the subsequent rarefaction [vacuum], which ruptures the lungs.… If the fuel deflagrates but does not detonate, victims will be severely burned and will probably also inhale the burning fuel. Since the most common FAE fuels, ethylene oxide and propylene oxide, are highly toxic, undetonated FAE should prove as lethal to personnel caught within the cloud as most chemical agents.⁽⁸⁾

According to a separate U.S. Central Intelligence Agency study, "the effect of an FAE explosion within confined spaces is immense. Those near the ignition point are obliterated. Those at the fringe are likely to suffer many internal, and thus invisible injuries, including burst eardrums and crushed inner ear organs, severe concussions, ruptured lungs and internal organs, and possibly blindness."⁽⁹⁾ Another Defense Intelligence Agency document speculates that because the "shock and pressure waves cause minimal damage to brain tissue…it is possible that victims of FAEs are not rendered unconscious by the blast, but instead suffer for several seconds or minutes while they suffocate."⁽¹⁰⁾

Lung injuries are particularly difficult to diagnose and treat. If FAEs are used in Chechnya, this would present an additional burden on the ill-equipped and overburdened Chechen hospitals.

Known Russian FAE and Enhanced-blast Weapons

• ODAB-500PM Bomb, Fuel-air-explosive-filled bomb.
• KAB-500Kr-OD Bomb, TV guided fuel-air-explosive-filled bomb.
• ODS-OD BLU dispenser, with ODS-OD BLU cluster bombs (8 per dispenser), Cluster bomb with fuel-air-explosive-filled cluster bomblets.
• 300 mm 12 tube rocket-launcher 9A52-2 (Smerch), Reactive-surround warhead on a 300 mm rocket.⁽¹¹⁾
• 220 mm 16 tube rocket-launcher 9P140 (Uragan), Reactive-surround warhead on a 220 mm rocket⁽¹²⁾
• Shturm Antitank Guided Missile, Helicopter-mounted rocket with FAE warhead.
• ATAKA Antitank Guided Missile, Helicopter-mounted rocket with FAE warhead.
• S-8D (S-8DM) 80 mm rocket, Aircraft-mounted rocket with FAE warhead.
• S-13D 122 mm rocket, Aircraft-mounted rocket with FAE warhead.
• TOS-1 220 mm Multiple Rocket Launcher System (Buratino, "Pinocchio"), Reportedly fires 220 mm rocket with FAE warhead.
• Kornet-E Long Range Antitank Guided Missile System, with thermobaric (fuel air explosive) HE warhead, Infantry antitank rocket with FAE warhead.
• RPO-A Shmel Rocket Infantry flame-thrower. Reportedly, the lethal and destructive effects inside a structure will cover an area of 80 cubic meters. In an open field the lethal area reportedly covers 50 square meters.⁽¹³⁾
• AS-11 and AS-12 rocket warheads. Much of the information about these warheads is classified.⁽¹⁴⁾

FAEs are not currently banned under international humanitarian law. However, because they are wide-area weapons, military forces must exercise extreme caution and refrain from using them in or near population centers.

Footnotes

1. Interfax, in FBIS, "Federal Troops Use Explosive Gas Bombs in Chechnya," December 27, 1999. This was also reported in Simon Saradzhyan, "Russians face minefields and fierce fire," Sunday Times (London), December 28, 1999 and Daniel Williams, "Assault on Grozny Stalled," Washington Post, December 28, 1999. The source of the information was not identified. Colonel-General Valery Manilov denied media reports Russian forces were using "vacuum bombs." Pavel Korysahkin and Andrey Marychev, ITAR-TASS, in FBIS, "Troops Confront 1,500 Grozny Rebuff," December 28, 1999. According to the Moscow Times, Russian NTV filmed a string of "terrific fireball explosions" in Pigorodnoye, a southeast suburb of Grozny, on December 24, 1999, that appeared "to be the work of TOS-1 [a multiple rocket launcher with fuel-air-explosive-tipped rockets]." Pavel Felgenhauer "Defense Dossier: From Gantamirov to TOS-1," The Moscow Times, December 30, 1999.

2. V. Frolov, "Fuel-Air Explosives," Voyennye Znaniya (Moscow), in Foreign Broadcasting Information Service (FBIS), March 20, 1996.

3. Ibid.

4. Defense Intelligence Agency, "Fuel-Air and Enhanced-Blast Explosives Technology--Foreign," April 1993, p. 19. Obtained by Human Rights Watch under the U.S. Freedom of Information Act.

5. Defense Intelligence Agency, "Future Threat to the Soldier System, Volume I; Dismounted Soldier--Middle East Threat," September 1993, p. 72. Obtained by Human Rights Watch under the U.S. Freedom of Information Act.

6. According to ITAR-TASS, Air Force Commander Anatoly Kornukov told reporters that the air force was using "munitions of 'higher power' including fuel-air explosive bombs" against guerrilla groups in Dagestan. Mikhail Shetsov, ITAR-TASS, in FBIS, "Guerrillas Damage 2 Planes in Dagestan," August 24, 1999. See also, Pavel Felgenhauer, "Defense Dossier: Bigger Bombs on Horizon," Moscow Times, December 2, 1999 and Sergey Ptichkin, "Nocturnal Shadows on Radar," Rossiyskaya gazeta (Moscow), September 3, 1999, in FBIS, "Dagestani Rebels Face High-Tech Offensive," September 3, 1999.

7. Simon Saradzhyan, "Russians face minefields and fierce fire," Sunday Times, December 28, 1999 and Daniel Williams, "Assault on Grozny Stalled," Washington Post, December 28, 1999.

8. Defense Intelligence Agency, "Fuel-Air and Enhanced-Blast Explosive Technology--Foreign," April 1993. Obtained by Human Rights Watch under the U.S. Freedom of Information Act.

9. Central Intelligence Agency, "Conventional Weapons Producing Chemical-Warfare-Agent-Like Injuries," February 1990. Unclassified document.

10. Defense Intelligence Agency, "Future Threat to the Soldier System, Volume I; Dismounted Soldier--Middle East Threat," September 1993, p. 73. Obtained by Human Rights Watch under the U.S. Freedom of Information Act.

11. Defense Intelligence Agency. "Future Threat to the Soldier System, Volume 2: Dismounted Soldier--Worldwide Threat," November 1994, p. 5-13.

12. Ibid.

13. Terry J. Gander ed., Jane's Infantry Weapons 1998-99 (Surrey: Jane's Information Group, 1998) p. 245.

14. Defense Intelligence Agency, "Fuel-Air and Enhanced-Blast Explosives Technology--Foreign," April 1993 p. 11.

CBU-72 / BLU-73/B Fuel/Air Explosive (FAE)

The the 550-pound CBU-72 cluster bomb contains three submunitions known as fuel/air explosive (FAE). The submunitions weigh approximately 100 pounds and contain 75 pounds of ethylene oxide with air-burst fuzing set for 30 feet. An aerosol cloud approximately 60 feet in diameter and 8 feet thick is created and ignited by an embedded detonator to produce an explosion. This cluster munition is effective against minefields, armored vehicles, aircraft parked in the open, and bunkers.

During Desert Storm the Marine Corps dropped all 254 CBU-72s, primarily from A-6Es, against mine fields and personnel in trenches. Some secondary explosions were noted when it was used as a mine clearer; however, FAE was primarily useful as a psychological weapon. Second-generation FAE weapons were developed from the FAE I type devices (CBU-55/72) used in Vietnam.

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No escape for Taleban from the 'daisy cutter'

Tim Ripley

AMERICA'S enemies in Afghanistan are now being attacked with
huge 15,000lb fuel air bombs that kill every creature within
a square mile radius of the impact point.

The first of these weapons, sometimes called "vacuum bombs"
or "daisy cutters", were dropped out of the rear cargo ramps
of a USAF C-130 Hercules transport aircraft on Sunday with
the aim of terrorising Taleban troops opposing Northern
Alliance forces.

Short of nuclear weapons, fuel air explosives are the most
powerful weapons in the US arsenal and their use indicates
that the Pentagon is trying to break Taleban morale.

Officially called the BLU-82, the bomb was designed during
the Vietnam war to clear helicopter landing zones in thick
jungle, but has since been used as a psychological terror
weapon to break enemy resistance at key points of the
battlefield.

Eleven were used to devastating effect during the 1991 Gulf
war, with one attack alone killing an estimated 4,500 Iraqi
troops. US Special Force troops are the only units equipped
with the bombs and they co-ordinate their attacks with
leaflet drops and propaganda broadcasts to induce enemy
troops to desert or surrender.

The tactic worked spectacularly well in Kuwait, where
thousands of Iraqis surrendered rather than risk being on
the receiving end.

According to one British Army expert: "Within the blast
effect radius of the BLU-82, lethality to personnel is 100
per cent" - which is military speak for saying anyone caught
by the explosion dies.

The weapons are a combination of warheads, which first
explode and spread a fine kerosene vapour into the
atmosphere. A secondary explosion then ignites the fuel
vapour, creating a massive pressure wave. Anyone caught in
the conflagration is incinerated and the blast wave sucks
out oxygen behind it, creating a vacuum that ruptures lungs.

"Personnel near the ignition point are obliterated," added
the expert. "Those on the fringes are likely to suffer
internal injuries - burst ear drums, crushed organs,
ruptured lungs, severe concussion and possibly blindness."

No confirmation has emerged from the Pentagon of where the
BLU-82s have been used, but they are "wide area" rather than
precision weapons so cannot be used near civilian population
areas or Northern Alliance lines.

The ideal targets would be concentrations of Taleban troops
protected by field fortifications, bunkers or armoured
vehicles. The fuel vapour of the weapon instantly penetrates
into bunkers, vehicles or buildings before ignition. Experts
say conventional body armour and bunkers provide no
protection.

One US Special Forces soldier described the aftermath of a
BLU-82 attack on Iraqi troops: "Many of our soldiers were at
loss to explain what caused the Iraqis to die. After days or
even weeks worth of exposure to the desert , evidence of
blood had typically dried or become obscured by oil and sand
particles so the Iraqi corpses showed absolutely no outward
sign of violent death.

"Fuel air bombs merely suffocated their victims and they
fell where they stood. Victims were typically found with
massive amounts of blood flowing from all bodily orifices."

He added: "It is a very violent and painful way to die ."

If you've seen the movie Outbreak, you've seen two examples of the fuel-air bomb.

BLU-118/B Thermobaric Weapon

The Thermobaric [TB] Weapon Demonstration will develop a weapon concept that is based on a new class of solid fuel-air explosive thermobarics. The term "thermobaric" is derived from the effects of temperature (the Greek word "therme" means "heat") and pressure (the Greek word "baros" means "pressure") on the target. The weapon could be used against a certain type of tunnel targets for a maximum functional kill of the tunnels.

Most of the Hard and/or Deeply Buried Targets (HDBTs), namely tunnels in rock, are so deep that the developmental and current inventory weapons cannot penetrate to sufficient depths to directly destroy critical assets. One of the warfighter's options is to attack the tunnel portals with weapons that penetrate the thinner layer of rock above the portal, or though the exterior doors, resulting in a detonation within the tunnel system. Penetrations through the door systems have the potential to place the warheads deep within the facility. Detonations within a tunnel, even only in a few diameters, have a significant increase in airblast propagation into the facility compared to external detonations. Tunnel layouts range from long, straight tunnels to various types of intersections, expansions, constrictions, chambers, rooms, alcoves, and multiple levels. All of these configurations affect the propagation of airblast.

Airblast propagation within a tunnel system has the potential to cause significant damage to critical equipment and systems. If the critical equipment within a facility can be damaged or destroyed, then the function of the facility can be degraded or destroyed, resulting in a functional kill. Depending on the purpose of the facility and the level of damage, a functional kill can be as permanent as a "structural kill," in which the facility is destroyed in a more traditional manner.

Functional kill from airblast loads is predicated on the ability to accurately determine the blast environment from an internal detonation. The response of critical equipment cannot be calculated without accurate blast loads. Unlike free-field blast loads, a detonation within a tunnel system can have a significant dynamic pressure component. This dynamic pressure component, in conjunction with the overpressure component, makes up the entire pressure-loading history necessary to predict component response.

The BLU-118/B nomenclature was first reported on 21 December 2001, and this weapon is clearly unrelated to the BLU-118 500 lb. napalm canister used during the Vietnam war.

The BLU-118/B is a penetrating warhead filled with an advanced thermobaric explosive that, when detonated, generates higher sustained blast pressures in confined spaces such as tunnels and underground facilities. The BLU-118/B uses the same penetrator body as the standard BLU-109 weapon. The significant difference is the replacement of the high explosive fill with a new thermobaric explosive that provides increased lethality in confined spaces.

The BLU-118/B warhead uses a Fuze Munition Unit (FMU)-143J/B to initiate the explosive. The FMU-143 fuze has been modified with a new booster and a 120-millisecond delay. All weapon guidance systems and employment options currently used with the BLU-109 warhead are compatible with the new BLU-118/B warhead. BLU-118/B payload candidates included PBXIH-135 [one of the Navy's new insensitive polymer bonded explosives], HAS-13, or SFAE [solid fuel air explosive] loaded into existing BLU-109 Weapon Bodies. Conventional high explosives (CHE) are characterized by a sensitivity to mechanical or thermal energy. Insensitive high explosives (IHE), on the other hand, require extraordinarily high stimuli before violent reaction occurs. Insensitive explosives reliably fulfil their performance, readiness and operational requirements on demand, but the violence of response to unplanned hazardous stimuli is restricted to an acceptable level. This means that when a munition is in a fire, hit by a fragment, bullet or high velocity projectile or subject to some other hazard the result will not be a detonation or a violent reaction of the explosive and propellant; no more than severe burning will ocur [such a deflagration is an exothermic reaction that occurs particle to particle at subsonic speed]. Some insensitive explosives are known to react in a different way to conventional explosives. For instance, detonation reactions are slower but more energy is released in a way that has the potential to produce a lot more damage.

The BLU-118/B bomb body can be attached to a variety of laser guidance system packages, including the GBU-15, GBU-24 laser guided bombs, as well as the AGM-130 missiles.

BLU-118B weapon operational concepts include vertical delivery with the bomb detonated at or just outside portal, skip bomb with short fuse (1st or second contact), skip bomb with long fuse (penetrate door, max distance down adit), and vertical delivery to penetrate overburden and detonate inside the tunnel adit.

In October 2001 the Department of Defense accelerated a number of programs being pursued as Advanced Concept Technology Demonstrations (ACTD) that could be used in Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan. The Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) organized a quick-response team on October 11, 2001, that included Navy, Air Force, Department of Energy and industry experts to identify, test, integrate and field a rapid solution that would enhance weapons options in countering hardened underground targets.

Explosive experts at the Naval Surface Weapons Center, Indian Head, MD, responded with a developmental explosive that provided enhanced internal blast effects. The Air Force Precision Strike Program Office at Eglin AFB, FL, led the team performing the weapon system integration, safety and flight clearances, and produced a modified fuzing system for the new warhead. The Indian Head facility conducted static testing of the fuze to demonstrate reliable initiation of the new explosive. Indian Head experts were called upon to provide the energetic solution, as PBXIH-135 was selected as the thermobaric bomb fill for the Air Force BLU-109 bombs. This new thermobaric bomb, designated as BLU-118/B, was developed within 67 days and subsequently supported Operation Enduring Freedom. Both static and flight tests were then conducted at full-scale tunnel facilities at the Nevada Test Site.

The BLU-118B was successfully tested at the Nevada Test Site on 14 December 2001. During that test, a Guided Bomb Unit (GBU)-24 laser-guided weapon using the BLU-118B warhead was dropped from an F-15E attack aircraft. The laser-guided bomb was "skipped" into a tunnel and exploded with a delayed fuze, which produced a significant growth in overpressure and temperature in the tunnel. When compared to the standard BLU-109 explosive, results showed the new thermobaric weapon generated a significant improvement in overpressure and pressure-impulse in the tunnel complex. The test culminated a two-month accelerated effort to rapidly transition a developmental explosive to improve lethality against underground facilities.

On 21 December 2001 Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition Edward C. Aldridge officially announced that a small number of the weapons were being deployed to attack tunnels in Afghanistan. As of late January 2002, the Air Force had completed verification and validation of the technical data and operational flight clearances needed to deploy the BLU-118B warhead. Ten warheads were, as a result, immediately made available to the U.S. Air Force for deployment. These are compatible with the GBU-15, GBU-24, and Air-launched Surface-attack Guided Missile (AGM)-130 weapon systems for employment by U.S. Air Force F-15E Strike Eagle aircraft.

On or about Sunday 03 March 2002 a single 2,000-pound thermobaric bomb was used for the first time in combat against cave complexes in which al-Qaeda and Taliban fighters had taken refuge in the Gardez region of Afghanistan.

The USAF and USN are actively pursuing conventional weapons technology to destroy Nuclear, Biological, and Chemical (NBC) and support/storage facilities while retaining or destroying the agents within the structure and minimizing collateral damage including fatalities. Thermobaric weapons use high-temperature incendiaries against chemical and biological facilities. The USN is working on an Inter-Halogen Oxidizer weapon while the USAF is pursuing a solid fuel-air explosive using aluminum particles. Both of these weapons use an incineration technique to defeat and destroy the CB agents within the blast area.

The Thermobaric Weapon Demonstration is a proposed Advanced Concept Technology Demonstration (ACTD). Under this program, prototype weapons are be tested under operational conditions for their performance, and leave-behinds are to be delivered to the customer. The program aims to develop a validated means of delivery to/into a tunnel adit [entrance]. Technical risks include the extent to which candidate thermobaric payloads do not perform substantially better than existing high explosives in tunnels.

The DTRA Hard Target Defeat (HTD) Program Office is developing plans, schedules, budget estimates, trade studies, test plans and engineering evaluations for the new Thermobaric Weapon ACTD (ACTD) and technology development programs. It is working to develop HTD program briefings and organize coordination meetings with the technology development team. It also assists in evaluating new explosive fills for current inventory bomb bodies, program technology risks, schedule critical path, and cost growth trends in support of DTRA program office.

The United States and its allies face a growing threat related to critical military targets hidden within and shielded by hardened, deeply buried tunnel complexes. These complexes may house biological/ chemical/ nuclear weapons production or storage facilities; command, control, and communications facilities; and theater ballistic missiles and their transporter- erector- launchers (TELs). An objective of this project is to examine the existing US and Allied capabilities to hold hardened, deeply buried tunnel targets at risk, thereby defining a current performance baseline. Any deficiencies will be identified and the ability of planned systems to address these deficiencies will be assessed. Finally, new technologies needed to mitigate remaining shortfalls will be evaluated as candidates for new hard target defeat acquisitions. Activities respond to warfighting requirements derived from the Hard and Deeply Buried Target Defeat capstone requirements document, and to RDT& E priorities by the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics (OUSD( A, T& L)). Additional FY 2002 funds provided as part of the Secretary of Defense's recent strategic review are being used to develop technologies identified in the Hard and Deeply Buried Target Defeat S&T Plan (Report to Congress).

This project focuses weapon/ target interaction and target planning tool technology base efforts completed in Project BD on tunnel applications. The program depends on test planning and execution support from Project BE. Products from this project are transitioned to PE 0603160BR, Project BK for Command, Control, Communications, and Intelligence (C3I) facility demonstration and the Thermobaric Weapon (TW) demonstration. Efforts in this program provide part of the technology base needed for counterproliferation activities conducted in other DoD programs.

The Defense Threat Reduction Agency is seeking commercial technology solutions to address the Department of Defense's needs for advanced energetics and novel explosives. The targets of interest are those that may generate more energy, larger power, larger impulse or greater lethality than conventional high explosives. Warhead integration will be accomplished by the Air Force sponsor. To minimize the timelines and reduce operational impact, modification of inventory weapon systems such as the GBU-24, 27, and AGM-130 were originally considered as primary candidates.

The HTD program objective is to develop and demonstrate end- to- end capabilities for the functional defeat of hard targets, particularly tunnels, and assess developing weapon and sensor concepts against such targets. The program does not develop new sensors; it assesses existing or emerging technologies being developed by others. The HTD program develops technologies under PE 0602715BR, Project BF and transitions them to this program for demonstration. The demonstrations require test planning and execution support from PE 0602715BR, Project BE. The currently planned HTD demonstration ends in FY03. HTD customers are USPACOM, USSTRATCOM, USSOCOM, and the Air Force’s Air Combat Command.

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