Lloyd E. Sponenburgh wrote:
"John R. Carroll" wrote in message
...

I stand corrected, John. I was not aware of the napthenic acid
component. My version must - again(sigh) - come from "common
knowlege" (urban myth). Well published, but not as well documented as
yours.

LLoyd

Glad to oblige LLoyd,
Here is a bit that clarifies another misconception. The BLU 82 was reffered
to as "Commando Vault" during the Vietnam era BTW.
You also might notice that polystyrene is again present in the mixture. This
has as much to do with the ethelene/styrene component as anything.
Polyethylene and polystyrene start out as natural gas/petroleum and act as
an accelerant once things get going.
Frequent press reports to the contrary, the Daisy Cutter is not a fuel-air
explosive (FAE). It is a conventional explosive incorporating both agent and
oxidizer. In contrast, an FAE consists only of agent and a dispersing
mechanism, and takes its oxidizer from the oxygen in the air. FAEs generally
run between 500 and 2000 pounds; it would be difficult to make an FAE the
size of Daisy Cutter because the correct uniform mixture of agent with
ambient air would be difficult to maintain if the agent were so widely
dispersed. Thus, the conventional explosive technique of Daisy Cutter is
more reliable than that of an FAE, particularly if there is significant wind
or thermal gradient.

The minimum altitude for release due to blast effects of the weapon is 6,000
feet AGL. The BLU-82 was originally designed to clear helicopter landing
zones and artillery emplacements in Vietnam. The warhead contains 12,600
pounds of low-cost GSX slurry (ammonium nitrate, aluminum powder, and
polystyrene) and is detonated just above ground level by a 38-inch fuze
extender, optimized for destruction and ground level without digging a
crater. The weapon produces an overpressure of 1000 psi [pounds per square
inch] near ground zero, tapering off as distance increases.

Eleven BLU-82Bs were dropped during Desert Storm, all from Special
Operations C-130s. The initial drops were intended to test the ability of
the bomb to clear mines; no reliable bomb damage assessment exists on mine
clearing effectiveness. Later, bombs were dropped as much for their
psychological effect as for their antipersonnel effects. The Air Force
dropped several BLU-82B variants during the campaign to destory the Taliban
and al-Qaeda terror networks in Afganistan to attack and demoralize
personnel and to destroy underground- and cave-complexes.


--
John R. Carroll
Machining Solution Software, Inc.
Los Angeles San Francisco
www.machiningsolution.com