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Mystery Air-Dropped Items.........
- Thread starter condor
- Start date
The first two are fairly easy, both submunitions of a sort. Working from memory (I'm at work) the top one is a MK 34 (36?) submunition, initially design for use against
Japanese bomber formations. Didn't work out, so the remaining stocks were used for attacks against parked aircraft. There were two variations, I think one was the MK 34 and the other 36, thus my memory lapse. As far as I have seen they only show up in one publication, OP 1664. Unusual for the OP, neither is illustrated, causing much confusion. I've seen maybe three over the years however that were marked, but only the version that you have. The line of thought is that the other is a similar design, but this has never been confirmed. I have photos of a marked one, if you don't find it by the weekend I may be able to dig it out for you. Mine is in the bottom left on the shelf-shot attached.
The second of your items is actually a terrain implantation sensor, part of the ADSID program that grew out of the Vietnam era "McNamara Line". A single submunition/sensor was dispensed from a 155mm projectile by base ejection. I don't remember the meaning of the acronym, but the program for the projectile was called REMBASS. You don't see these sensors intact very often, though every once in a while one shows up with the fins stripped off, making it even more difficult to recognize. I have both the sensor and the projectile, bottom row in the photo, orange projectile. A couple of items to the right is another of the sensors, with the fins stripped off. I've seen the REMBASS in a couple of sensor documents, but not in any general ordnance ID manuals.
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BTW, I cannot ID the third item, but it looks similar to some of the US Navy dropped items that were used for various purposes, temperature measuring, "pinging" (submarine), etc. I'm not a Navy guy and don't have information on them, but a similar, much shorter item used to show up a lot, late 80s, early 90s. A lightweight gray body with plastic end pieces and a shrouded fin section where the shroud and fins were frequently broken off, leaving the end looking much like the one in your picture. Not an ID, but a thought. Mine has a decal, top shelf center.
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EXCELLENT information, thank you very much gentlemen!
That is awesome about the REMBASS sensor! Funny, when I took the pics of it, it was just sitting a few feet away from my collection of ADSID sensors........had no idea that it was related. Using the search terms REMBASS and 155mm on google, I was able to locate the following manual. Here is info taken from the manual on the specific item in question..........
Sensor, Anti-Intrusion DT-570 ( )/GSQ is an expend-
able/non-recoverable, battery operated, artillery emplaced
seismic classifying sensor. The sensor is self-contained and
communicates with the REMBASS monitoring sets either directly
or through radio repeater(s), and is emplaced using 155mm
artillery projectiles. The sensor detects seismic disturb-
ances to the earth imparted by moving vehicles and personnel.
It classifies the target and incorporates within the digital
message format the information and transmits it to the dis-
tant Sensor Monitoring Set or Portable Monitor Set using the
internal FM radio transmitter. It is capable of classifying
tracked vehicles, wheeled vehicles, and personnel.
REMBASS being an acronym for "Remotely Monitored Battlefield Sensor System"
Here is the link for the manual from DTIC:
My DT-570 sensor is now in good company. Just wish I had the 155mm projectile to display with it. US-Subs, your orange 155mm looks like a modified 155mm illum projectile from the M485 series. Any idea if that was the host projectile, then modified for the REMBASS application?
Very cool piece here -- the AN/GSQ-136, also known as the 81mm XM123 round. I just acquired this piece from the co-inventor of the XM123. I've never seen a complete example before. I have other fired XM123 rounds, but they are missing the tail fin section, boom, etc.
US-Subs, can you identify the small sensor in the middle in my photo above? The design of the fin section is identical to that of the larger ADSID-I that can be seen on the far right in the same photo.
Thanks again for the identification assistance!
That is awesome about the REMBASS sensor! Funny, when I took the pics of it, it was just sitting a few feet away from my collection of ADSID sensors........had no idea that it was related. Using the search terms REMBASS and 155mm on google, I was able to locate the following manual. Here is info taken from the manual on the specific item in question..........
Sensor, Anti-Intrusion DT-570 ( )/GSQ is an expend-
able/non-recoverable, battery operated, artillery emplaced
seismic classifying sensor. The sensor is self-contained and
communicates with the REMBASS monitoring sets either directly
or through radio repeater(s), and is emplaced using 155mm
artillery projectiles. The sensor detects seismic disturb-
ances to the earth imparted by moving vehicles and personnel.
It classifies the target and incorporates within the digital
message format the information and transmits it to the dis-
tant Sensor Monitoring Set or Portable Monitor Set using the
internal FM radio transmitter. It is capable of classifying
tracked vehicles, wheeled vehicles, and personnel.
REMBASS being an acronym for "Remotely Monitored Battlefield Sensor System"
Here is the link for the manual from DTIC:
My DT-570 sensor is now in good company. Just wish I had the 155mm projectile to display with it. US-Subs, your orange 155mm looks like a modified 155mm illum projectile from the M485 series. Any idea if that was the host projectile, then modified for the REMBASS application?
Very cool piece here -- the AN/GSQ-136, also known as the 81mm XM123 round. I just acquired this piece from the co-inventor of the XM123. I've never seen a complete example before. I have other fired XM123 rounds, but they are missing the tail fin section, boom, etc.
US-Subs, can you identify the small sensor in the middle in my photo above? The design of the fin section is identical to that of the larger ADSID-I that can be seen on the far right in the same photo.
Thanks again for the identification assistance!
Nice fins on the 81mm, I'm still looking for a set. My 81mm is in the bottom right of the shelf shot above, with original paint and markings. I've documented the existence of over 90 different sensor models, but many with little or no information attached. I was able to copy portions of a great document on varied Vietnam era sensors which I found at the Wright Patterson Museum, but the best parts were missing. The sent up a request for the missing portion but the request was denied, due to classification issues.
I won't be in to the collection until this weekend, but when I am I'll try to remember to look over the REMBASS projectile to see if it is overstamped.
I won't be in to the collection until this weekend, but when I am I'll try to remember to look over the REMBASS projectile to see if it is overstamped.
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Thanks, it would be great to see if the REMBASS projo has an overstamp. If I can't have the genuine article, at least I can get close!
I will probably do a small CNC run of the adapters for the XM123 rounds. Any idea how many are floating around? I have seen maybe 3 or 4 over the past 25 years. All the ones I have seen are missing their fins. I think the adapters are probably non-existent, but the fins used are the standard 81mm M149 fin sets. I will want to complete mine that are missing, as well as offer them to anyone that has an XM123 that wants to complete their projectile.
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There is a large mortar collector (JJ) out of the Chicago area that has one with the original fins, that is the only one that I know of.
Not technically an overstamp, but certainly repurposed. A bit more difficult to find than an illum body, it is/was the M449 for M43 submunitions. Tough round to find. Changed to the XM694.
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EXCELLENT INFORMATION! Thanks very much for providing!! Now, off to look through all my 155 rounds to see if I have a M449. I know I don't have an XM694.
What are the threaded holes with inserts that have been staked along the outside of the body? I am assuming that is to secure guides or rails on the projectile's interior to center the sensor, due to the differences in OD/ID diameters.
Weasel Pilot
Well-Known Member
Ref the slender ADSID, think this is the training round to allow aircrew to practice implanting sensors without expending more expensive "live rounds." Had the same ballistic characteristics just no electronics.
That is an interesting and certainly plausible idea. How did you come about this information? I haven't been able to come across one image of it on the internet, or in any of the ADSID related documents that I have read. Wouldn't its much smaller diameter have a considerable impact on its flight characteristics? I would think that would definitely have a detrimental impact on its use as a training round, as it seems its point of impact would differ from all the other sensors, which generally have the same approximate diameter. Any idea what the bid-body bracket's use was? Thanks for the input!
Weasel Pilot
Well-Known Member
Sorry for the delay in responding, Came about this info during my time in the Air Force. Probably came from AGOS (Air Ground Operations School) which I went thru in 1980, they still taught Vietnam era sensors at that time. Have looked thru my copies of the A-26K-34, A-7D-34 and -33, and a circa 73 F-4-34 and so far nothing on any of the air-delivered sensors. Interesting factoid, although these are considered "Vietnam Era" devices, they were used in Desert Storm, dropped by Kuwaiti A-4s on behalf of the USMC which couldn't get permission to drop low enough to ensure required accuracy.