CBU-55
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The CBU-55 was a
cluster bomb A cluster munition is a form of air-dropped or ground-launched explosive weapon that releases or ejects smaller submunitions. Commonly, this is a cluster bomb that ejects explosive bomblets that are designed to kill personnel and destroy vehicl ...
fuel–air explosive A dust explosion is the rapid combustion of fine particles suspended in the air within an enclosed location. Dust explosions can occur where any dispersed powdered combustible material is present in high-enough concentrations in the atmosphere or ...
that was developed during the
Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...
by the United States Air Force, and was used only infrequently in that conflict. Unlike most incendiaries, which contained
napalm Napalm is an incendiary mixture of a gelling agent and a volatile petrochemical (usually gasoline (petrol) or diesel fuel). The name is a portmanteau of two of the constituents of the original thickening and gelling agents: coprecipitated al ...
or
phosphorus Phosphorus is a chemical element with the symbol P and atomic number 15. Elemental phosphorus exists in two major forms, white phosphorus and red phosphorus, but because it is highly reactive, phosphorus is never found as a free element on Ear ...
, the CBU-55 was fueled primarily by
propane Propane () is a three-carbon alkane with the molecular formula . It is a gas at standard temperature and pressure, but compressible to a transportable liquid. A by-product of natural gas processing and petroleum refining, it is commonly used a ...
. Described as "the most powerful non-nuclear weapon in the U.S. arsenal,"Spencer C. Tucker, ''Vietnam'', UCL Press, 1999, p.185 the device was one of the more powerful
conventional weapons The terms conventional weapons or conventional arms generally refer to weapons whose ability to damage comes from kinetic, incendiary, or explosive energy and exclude weapons of mass destruction (''e.g.'' nuclear, biological, radiological and ...
designed for warfare.


Design

The device had compartment with propane, and another compartment with
explosive An explosive (or explosive material) is a reactive substance that contains a great amount of potential energy that can produce an explosion if released suddenly, usually accompanied by the production of light, heat, sound, and pressure. An expl ...
, designed to spread and ignite fuel. The CBU-55 had two variations. The CBU-55/B consisted of 3 BLU-73A/B
fuel-air explosive A thermobaric weapon, also called an aerosol bomb, a vacuum bomb or a fuel air explosive (FAE), is a type of explosive that uses oxygen from the surrounding air to generate a high-temperature explosion. The fuel–air explosive is one of the be ...
sub-munitions in a SUU-49/B Tactical Munitions Dispenser, and the CBU-55A/B had 3 BLU-73A/B sub-munitions in a SUU-49A/B dispenser). The SUU-49/B dispenser could be carried only by helicopters or low-speed aircraft, whereas the SUU-49A/B was redesigned with a strongback and folding tailfins, so that they could also be delivered by high-speed aircraft as well.


History

The first generation of the CBU-55 was used during the
Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...
, but only in a test mode by US forces. In 1971, a team from the Air Force Weapons Center at Eglin Air Force Base brought test versions of the CBU-55 to Southeast Asia for testing on two lower speed attack aircraft, the A-37 and the
A-1 A1, A-1, A01 or A.1. may refer to: Education * A1, the Basic Language Certificate of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages * Language A1, the former name for "Language A: literature", one of the IB Group 1 subjects * A1, a ...
. In late 1971, the team worked with the 604th Special Operations Squadron A-37 pilots at
Bien Hoa Air Base Bien Hoa Air Base (Vietnamese: ''Sân bay Biên Hòa'') is a Vietnam People's Air Force (VPAF) military airfield located in South-Central southern Vietnam about from Ho Chi Minh City, across the Dong Nai river in the northern ward of Tân Phon ...
to fly a handful of combat test missions. In December of that year, that same team came to Nahkon Phanom Royal Thai Air Base (NKP) to do the same tests with the 1st Special Operation Squadron, flying the A-1. On Nov 6th, Dec 2nd, 5th, and 8th, four two ship A-1 sorties were flown, carrying four each of the CBU-55. The NKP test project officer and flight lead for these three missions, Capt. Randy Jayne, helped the Eglin team write up the test results, which were overall not positive. The unusual deployment sequence for the three propane canisters, and the fact that they fell under small parachutes highly susceptible to significant wind drift, made delivery accuracy and aircraft survivability (when releasing low enough to minimize that wind drift) questionable. Also, the very high drag characteristics of the CBU-55 canister, with its flat back end, severely limited the A-1's ability to carry other bombs, rockets, and CBU, a further negative issue. In February/March 1972 US Navy Light Attack Squadron 4 (VAL-4) based at Can Tho delivered several sorties with the
OV-10 Bronco The North American Rockwell OV-10 Bronco is an American twin-turboprop light attack and observation aircraft. It was developed in the 1960s as a special aircraft for counter-insurgency (COIN) combat, and one of its primary missions was as a forw ...
, in support of US Army and ARVN joint operations north of the
Mekong River The Mekong or Mekong River is a trans-boundary river in East Asia and Southeast Asia. It is the world's twelfth longest river and the third longest in Asia. Its estimated length is , and it drains an area of , discharging of water annuall ...
. The ordnance was considered experimental, and teams of pathologists were flown to the drop sites to examine weapon effects on enemy remains. Although the Air Force chose, based on the Bien Hoa and NKP tests, not to deploy the weapon to the two combat units in-theater, an inventory of the canisters was kept. By April 21, 1975,
South Vietnam South Vietnam, officially the Republic of Vietnam ( vi, Việt Nam Cộng hòa), was a state in Southeast Asia that existed from 1955 to 1975, the period when the southern portion of Vietnam was a member of the Western Bloc during part of th ...
had largely been conquered by the
People's Army of Vietnam The People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN; vi, Quân đội nhân dân Việt Nam, QĐNDVN), also recognized as the Vietnam People's Army (VPA) or the Vietnamese Army (), is the military force of the Vietnam, Socialist Republic of Vietnam and the ...
(PAVN). Earlier in the month, a single CBU-55 had been flown to Bien Hoa. The senior US military officer in Vietnam, Major General Homer D. Smith, cleared the way for the Saigon government to use the weapon against the PAVN. An RVNAF
C-130 The Lockheed C-130 Hercules is an American four-engine turboprop military transport aircraft designed and built by Lockheed (now Lockheed Martin). Capable of using unprepared runways for takeoffs and landings, the C-130 was originally desig ...
transport plane circled
Xuan Loc Xuan () may refer to: * Xuancheng, formerly Xuan Prefecture (Xuanzhou), Anhui, China ** Xuanzhou District, seat of Xuancheng and Xuan Prefecture ** Xuan paper, from Xuan Prefecture * Xuan (surname), Chinese surname * Xuan (given name) Chinese ru ...
at , then dropped the bomb. The contents exploded in a fireball over a area. Experts estimated that 250 soldiers had been killed, primarily by the immediate depletion of oxygen rather than from burns. The CBU-55 was never used again in the war, and South Vietnam's government surrendered on April 30. A second generation of the CBU-55 (and
CBU-72 The CBU-72 was a American fuel-air cluster bomb used by the United States Military until 1996. It was very effective against armored vehicles, aircraft parked in the open, bunkers, and minefields. Design The CBU-72 consisted of three fuel-air ...
) fuel-air weapons entered the United States military arsenal after the Vietnam War, and were used by the United States in Iraq during
Operation Desert Storm Operation or Operations may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * ''Operation'' (game), a battery-operated board game that challenges dexterity * Operation (music), a term used in musical set theory * ''Operations'' (magazine), Multi-Man ...
.CBU-72 / BLU-73/B Fuel/Air Explosive (FAE) - Dumb Bombs
/ref>


See also

*
List of cluster bombs This is a list of cluster bombs as of 2008. Brazil * BLG-120 * BLG-204 * BLG-252 France * BAP 100 * Germany * AB 23 *AB 250-2 *AB 70-D1 * BDC 10 Israel * TAL 1 * TAL 2 Poland * ZK-300 * LBKas-250 South Africa * CB-470 Cluster Bomb ...


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cbu-55 Cluster munition Thermobaric weapons Explosive weapons Cold War aerial bombs of the United States Military equipment introduced in the 1970s