The M139 bomblet was an American sub-munition designed for use in warheads as a chemical cluster munition. Each spherical bomblet held of sarin nerve agent.

History

A spherical chemical cluster munition, the M134, had been developed for the Honest John rocket but not deployed, owing to a variety of problems. In 1964, a new warhead size was standardized for the smaller, diameter, Little John rocket. The warhead held 52 M139 bomblets. When the

MGM-29 Sergeant The MGM-29 Sergeant was an American short-range, solid fuel, surface-to-surface missile developed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The missiles were built by Sperry Utah Company. The Sergeant was the third and last in a series of JPL rockets for ...

was deployed in the 1960s, it had the capacity to deliver a warhead carrying 330 M139 bomblets.Smart, Jeffery K.
Medical Aspects of Chemical and Biological Warfare
'': Chapter 2 - History of Chemical and Biological Warfare: An American Perspective,
PDF
p. 59), ''

Borden Institute The Borden Institute is a U.S. Army “Center of Excellence in Military Medical Research and Education”. In 1987, U.S. Army Colonel Russ Zajtchuk conceived the idea for a “Center of Excellence in Military Medical Research and Education,” u ...

'', Textbooks of Military Medicine, PDF via

Maxwell-Gunter Air Force Base Maxwell Air Force Base , officially known as Maxwell-Gunter Air Force Base, is a United States Air Force (USAF) installation under the Air Education and Training Command (AETC). The installation is located in Montgomery, Alabama, United States. O ...

, accessed November 12, 2008. In total, about 60,000 M139s were produced and stored; almost all were destroyed between April and November 1976.

Specifications

The M139 was a spherical bomblet that was filled with of sarin (GB). On the outside of the device were "vanes"; the vanes created a spin which armed the impact fuze. This "spin-to-arm" type fuze required between 1,000 and 2,000 rotations per minute to arm, which made handling the bomblets simpler because they were insensitive to normal movements.Mauroni, Albert J. ''Chemical Demilitarization: Public Policy Aspects'',
Google Books
, Greenwood Publishing Group, 2003, p. 20, (). The bomblet's interior contained a central explosive burster charge, containing of

composition B Composition B, colloquially Comp B, is an explosive consisting of castable mixtures of RDX and TNT. It is used as the main explosive filling in artillery projectiles, rockets, land mines, hand grenades and various other munitions. It was also ...

, and two outer compartments which contained the sarin.

Tests involving the M139

The M139 bomblet was used by the U.S. Army in at least two instances of chemical weapons testing. In 1967 there were two series of tests which sought to learn the effects of Sarin dropped in the bomblets over two different types of forest environment. The first series of tests, known as Green Mist, took place March 25–April 24, 1967. Conducted in

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only state ...

, the purpose of the tests was to ascertain the effect of Sarin-filled M139s being dropped and disseminated over a canopy of

rain forest Rainforests are characterized by a closed and continuous tree canopy, moisture-dependent vegetation, the presence of epiphytes and lianas and the absence of wildfire. Rainforest can be classified as tropical rainforest or temperate rainforest ...

. The Hawaii tests used both sarin

nerve agent Nerve agents, sometimes also called nerve gases, are a class of organic chemicals that disrupt the mechanisms by which nerves transfer messages to organs. The disruption is caused by the blocking of acetylcholinesterase (AChE), an enzyme that ...

and the simulant methylacetoacetate.Fact Sheet — Green Mist
, ''The official website of the Military Health System and the Defense Health Agency'', accessed September 22, 2016. Another test using the M139 took place at the Gerstle River test site, near

Fort Greely Fort Greely is a United States Army launch site for anti-ballistic missiles located about southeast of Fairbanks, Alaska. It is also the home of the Cold Regions Test Center (CRTC), as Fort Greely is one of the coldest areas in Alaska, and can ...

Alaska Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S. ...

, from June to July 1967. The purpose of these tests was to determine the effectiveness of Sarin-filled M139 and BLU-19/B23 bomblets when dropped from a SADEYE dispenser in a summer forest environment. The tests were collectively known as "Dew Point". Both 1967 testing operations were overseen by the U.S. Army's

Deseret Test Center The Deseret Test Center was a U.S. Army operated command in charge for testing chemical and biological weapons during the 1960s. The Deseret was headquartered at Fort Douglas, Utah, a former U.S. Army base. History Progress toward standardizin ...

.Fact Sheet — Dew Point
, ''The official website of the Military Health System and the Defense Health Agency'', accessed September 22, 2016. Both M139 tests were part of

Project 112 Project 112 was a biological and chemical weapon experimentation project conducted by the United States Department of Defense from 1962 to 1973. The project started under John F. Kennedy's administration, and was authorized by his Secretary ...

.Project 112/SHAD Fact Sheets
", Force Health Protection & Readiness Policy & Programs, The Chemical-Biological Warfare Exposures Site, accessed November 13, 2008.

References

{{U.S. chemical weapons Chemical weapon delivery systems Submunitions Chemical weapons of the United States Military equipment introduced in the 1960s

History

Specifications

Tests involving the M139

See also

References