How does a buker buster actually work..?

I was just wondering how a buker buster actually works, I know that it has somekind of a mechanism that prevents it from exploding at the direct impact of ground, instead it drills it's way down to the buker, and explodes there...? How does this weapon work..?





bunker buster video



[edit on 11-8-2005 by Figher Master FIN]

If its anything like Barnes Wallis' blockbuster and tallboy bombs I think it involves spinning the bomb and dropping it from a great height so it picks up a good head of speed.

Or it could be rocket powered like the old durandel anti airfield missile.


Id go with the first.

science.howstuffworks.com...

Originally posted by kinglizard
science.howstuffworks.com...

Thanks for the link... However I know about the Busters, I am interested in how they work


[edit on 11-8-2005 by Figher Master FIN]

I found this on the internet, it might help explaining it a bit, it looks as the bomb just goes trough with the sheer weight...

Bunker buster video

[edit on 12-8-2005 by Figher Master FIN]

The original Bunker Busters were 155mm artillery shell casings with bombs built into them, and laser guiding packages attached. They were on a timed fuse, so that they would impact, the fuse would start to "burn" and 5 or 10 seconds later it would detonate, after having penetrated through several layers of "building" or whatever it hit. It's basically a timed fuse with some kind of heavy penetrator, most likely Depleted Uranium now, so that it can go through concrete, etc.

[edit on 12-8-2005 by Zaphod58]

Ok, but how does it penetrate trough the 3 meter thick roof...?

[edit on 12-8-2005 by Figher Master FIN]

Heavy bomb + small diameter + hard shell + high velocity = huge force/area = huge pressure, over the break limit of the "roof material" = penetration, after the penetration the bomb explodes and destroys the structure

Depleted Uranium is super dense. it goes through things like a hot knife through butter. For example, when a DU tank round hits a target, it sharpens itself and gets better penetration of the target. It's the same for a DU penetrator on the bomb. and like northwolf said....heavy bomb, small area of impact=penetration. You're talking about 5000+ pounds of bomb.

[edit on 12-8-2005 by Zaphod58]

ok, now I get it... Thanks to everybody who posted...

DU doesn't penetrate because it's super hard.

Well, okay, it does, but also because it burns at an incredibly high temperature once the friction of high speed contact ignites it. In turn, high temps soften hard structures by exciting the molecules, making it easier to 'wedge' something in.

I know that cruise missles penetrate by channeling a super-heated jet of molten material ahead of them. It stands to reason bunker busters could do the same thing.

Unless we're talking about nukes, in which case they don't have to make it into the bunker, they just have to make it into the ground above or to one side of the structure. The resulting earthquake upon detonation does the rest.

That's my understanding at least.

Actually no armor piercing weapon that i know of actually penetrates the armour by burning their way in.
For example a HEAT round (shaped charge) penetrates the armour by kinetic (impact) energy of the copperplasma (from a copperplate in front of explosives)
The heat from burning of DU only effects targets behind the actual armour/concrete. for example in AT use the the heat from burning DU detonates the ammo of a tank, fries the crew and wrecks the electronics..

DU doesn't burn it's way in. It actually sharpens from the impact, and uses kinetic energy to puncture. It's not super hard, it's super dense, there's a difference. There's a cloud of DU dust released on impact that is known to burn, or explode, but the penetrator itself doesn't burn its way in.

www.globalsecurity.org...

[edit on 12-8-2005 by Zaphod58]

correct the spelling in your header there buddy. i had no idea what a BUKER buster was...................then through out your post you have BUNKER correctly...........but it was from the articles you were posting.

you'll get more traffic if you correct the header.




angie

Oh, geez, I didn't notice... thanks for correcting me...

I stand corrected, thanks guys.

Heat does play a part in making targets 'softer' though, doesn't it?

I'm thinking of butter here..cold butter vs. hot butter. One is much easier to slice...

One would think the properties of the DU rounds make them all around good for penetrating armor, up to and including the heat generated.

I personally think they should replace the DU rounds with Tungsten Carbide or some such. But then we wouldn't have a convenient excuse to dispose of our nuclear waste with every new military incursion.

Originally posted by Zaphod58
The original Bunker Busters were 155mm artillery shell casings with bombs built into them, and laser guiding packages attached. They were on a timed fuse, so that they would impact, the fuse would start to "burn" and 5 or 10 seconds later it would detonate, after having penetrated through several layers of "building" or whatever it hit. It's basically a timed fuse with some kind of heavy penetrator, most likely Depleted Uranium now, so that it can go through concrete, etc.

[edit on 12-8-2005 by Zaphod58]

The bunker buster you are refferring to is the GBU-28 which casing was actually surplass 8 inch artillery tubes, as the metal used in the barrels was far stronger than ordinary bomb casings. The weight of the bomb was about 5000 lbs with less than a 1000 lbs being actual HE.

So as has been stated a bunker buster basically pentrates through sheer force a combination of mass concentrated at a small point combined with high speed.

However there are limitations to bunkerbusters.

• Even the hardets metals used in the casings deform after a certain depth limiting the reliabilty of the warhead surviving until detonation.. Therefore research is being conducted into stronger materials, one of the laeding contenders is a material developed by the USAF called Air Force 80/20 (?).
  
• Due to the ballast (DU etc) necessary for penetration only a small weight of HE can be carried. This of course means less damage to the target a consequence being; more research is being conducted into more energetic materials. 2 new explosive compounds have been developed by the US military and are beginning to see widespread use. They are CL-20 and AFX-757, which pack more of a punch but are also far more insensitive than previous HE. Production of nano aluminium will also allow for more powerful energetic componds.
  
• Lastly being that hardened targets are being buried deeper and deeper meaning a far heavier weapon using existing orinciples is needed to penetrate these bunkers. Currently the USAf is researching and deleping the MOP - the Massive Ordnance Penetrator, a 30 000 lb slimelined freefall weapon that can penetrate much father than existing weapons.
  
  [edit on 12-8-2005 by rogue1]

the US is researching a rocket powered super cavititing (spelling) bunker buster and reforming the nuclear bunker busters.

OK, now I know how the bunker buster works, it's all about the density... It sounds simple, maybe it even is that...