Submunition Challenge

[US-Subs]

Here is a little info to get you started. US manufacture, simple, but with a normal BLU designation and in two variations.

Do you know the designation and fill material? Extra credit for the system used with and description of functioning. I'll check back tonight and see who thinks they've gotten it. Bombsaway you cannot play this time!

 

[pzgr40]

The hemispherical ball that is ejected upward of the BLU-4B? It's too big for the BLU-18B

 

[Yodamaster]

Challenge

Well, so immediatly and only with the dimensions, I should say a BLU 24 serie.
But ! The holes are to little and the body seems to be very light. I should more say a Dummy or Practice model of BLU 24 (BDU ??)

 

[US-Subs]

Quick break for lunch, looking at the answers so far, no, and no. Not even close yet. Keep trying.

 

[V40]

Could it be a variant of the : Grenade, M43A1 ?

 

[Chris 42 RQ]

Smoke marker

It appears to have had a lable on it stating SMK-some sort of practice marker used in early trials as this would explain the small holes ?????

 

[Eodtek]

Ok, dumb question on my part but is that ruler showing it as being 7mm or 7cm?

 

[pzgr40]

7cm. The small division lines between teh cm lines are 2mm each.

 

[US-Subs]

I'll give it till tomorrow morning (NL time), if no one has come close by then I'll give it in (no one is close yet).

 

[ordnance]

This will be from memory, and there isn't much of that left, so no BLU numbers or anything too specific.

But I seem to recall it's a Navy submunition or cluster smoke bomb filled with WP. When it opens and disperses the individual bomblets, each of them emits smoke from the open hole. Various size holes emitting greater or lesser amounts of smoke, sort of like a timed release prescription drug capsule.

And no fuzing of any kind other than one to open the cluster. The individual balls just spread out and burn with contact in air. Am I close?

It would be interesting to see one function if my guess is correct. I'll bet it was a pretty effective bomb for laying a wide smoke screen.

 

[US-Subs]

Ordnance is very close and is the clear winner for this one. Please say hello to the BLU-6/B submunition, filled with FS smoke.

These submunitions were actually part of a long, multi-service development attempt in the 1950s-60s, trying to dispense a linear "smoke curtain" that could extend at length, and from altitude to ground/sea level. It began with the E33 smoke tank (1a & 1b) where it was also tested for chemical/toxin dispersal. The Navy pushed it further with the MK12 Mod Aircraft Chemical Tank (sorry, pub is in transit and no electronic copy), and the Air Force then gave it their best effort, designating the submunitions as the BLU-6/B, used in the A/B 37B-1 dispenser (2a, b, c).

All functioned pretty much the same way. Around 500 of the submunitions were placed in a sealed dispenser which was filled with liquid smoke agent FS (sulfer trioxide/chlorosulfonic acid) which combines with moisture in the air to produce smoke (WP would not burn reliably from such small holes and was not used). A vacuum was drawn on the container to remove the air and fill the balls with smoke agent.

When released, the loose agent that remained outside of the balls in the extra space of the dispenser would immediately produce smoke, forming the top portion of the smoke curtain. The falling balls with the large holes would lose agent most quickly, forming the middle part of the curtain. The falling balls with the small holes would lose agent more slowly, forming the bottom part of the curtain.

All of the programs had mixed results; the Air Force portion is referenced as finally being cancelled in 1963.

These are the only surviving examples of the BLU-6 I have ever found, hopefully more exist but have just been waiting for proper identification.

 

[HAZORD]

In my research on air delivered weapons using the "EYE" suffix, I came across photos of a program called Padeye, which appears to have split into a couple of applications. The attached photos label it as a smoke tank. There wasn't any explanation as to the contents, but you can see the smoke curtain that Jeff is describing.

The other appplication used a design to base eject CW agent grenades on parachutes.

The first photo shows the curtain being created over a lake. They liked to test the burning things over a lake, as can be seen in the last photo of napalm being dropped on the water.

 

[weberoed]

J Jeff is this the same bomblet? and here is my pic of the MK12/E 33 spray tank

 

[peteblight]

View attachment 105543View attachment 105544J Jeff is this the same bomblet? and here is my pic of the MK12/E 33 spray tank

Mike, y

Your's appears to be an OKT 8 or 11.

Pete

 

[weberoed]

mine appears to be made of metal, with no scoring or breaks like the OKT sersis.. Plus it has a a number of XXX's that the OKT did not have. So I am not so sure it is an OKT, any other idea's?

 

[US-Subs]

Mike,
you have the advantage of viewing the item, we have only the photo. But based on the photo, the size is consistent with the OKT, and looking at the photo the line around the horizontal circumference and the line going from the center (circumference line) to the bottom both look consistent with the OKT. The X's do not look original and I would guess were from a team playing tech-intell games? There are both US and European training copies that look pretty good but are off in construction and the plugs. If I get a chance I'll take some photos later and post. Regardless, it is not the BLU. Check the measurements, yours are inches, mine are cm.

I would also acknowledge that the designation OKT-8/11 is a carryover from pre-1991, the correct designation is now known to be different, but I do not have those characters loaded on this computer.

 

[weberoed]

Thanks Jeff, Pete had sent me a message earlier pointing out pretty much the same thing. The source I had gotten the picture from was adamant at the time it wasn't a OKT (Jack) so I did not question him. But now I forget his explanation of the x's. But all in all I agree with you and Pete - thanks again

 

[peteblight]

Mike,
you have the advantage of viewing the item, we have only the photo. But based on the photo, the size is consistent with the OKT, and looking at the photo the line around the horizontal circumference and the line going from the center (circumference line) to the bottom both look consistent with the OKT. The X's do not look original and I would guess were from a team playing tech-intell games? There are both US and European training copies that look pretty good but are off in construction and the plugs. If I get a chance I'll take some photos later and post. Regardless, it is not the BLU. Check the measurements, yours are inches, mine are cm.

I would also acknowledge that the designation OKT-8/11 is a carryover from pre-1991, the correct designation is now known to be different, but I do not have those characters loaded on this computer.

Regarding the corrected designation US Subs mentioned above, it is AK-1 or AZh*-2. The AK-1 is identifed as having a fill of mustard and the AZh*-2 a fill of WP.


Cheers


Pete

 

[weberoed]

thanks for the designation, I had been looking for it for a long time, and had given up since most everybody said they were just OKT

 

[US-Subs]

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