FAE Bombing for Minefield Breaching

Abstract

Historically, bombing has not been used or extensively tested for minefield breaching. This report predicts that bombing results should be excellent even with small numbers of sorties. Fuel-air explosives (FAE), which are notably effective against pressure-fuzed mines, were the notional ordnance. For a single FAE bomb probability of one-half of making a 30-meter breach, four Harrier jets with seven CBU72 bombs each can reduce a 210-meter path through a standard minefield from 1,000 mines/km to at most 330 mines/km with 99% probability. This decreased path density provides a tank 62% chance of crossing the minefield path without hitting a mine; whereas, without the FAE bombing, a tank trying to bull through is only 25% certain of crossing safely. Killing all mines in the path is possible (82% chance) with the four jet strike. The analysis can be applied to other bombs and minefields. minefields, mine countermeasures.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jun 01, 1992
Accession Number
ADA251392

Entities

People

  • Jerry Thomas
  • John D. Sullivan
  • Linda L. Moss

Organizations

  • Ballistic Research Laboratory

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Aircrafts
  • Armored Vehicles
  • Artillery
  • Blast
  • Bombs
  • Engineering
  • Explosives
  • Fire Control Systems
  • Fuel Air Explosives
  • Land Mines
  • Military Research
  • Minefields
  • Munitions
  • Probability
  • Standards
  • Warfare
  • Weapons

Readers

  • Marine Ecological Systems Migration
  • Marksmanship and Weaponry.