The Mark 83 is part of the
Mark 80 series of
low-drag general-purpose bomb
A general-purpose bomb is an air-dropped bomb intended as a compromise between blast damage, penetration, and fragmentation in explosive effect. They are designed to be effective against enemy troops, vehicles, and buildings.
Characteristics ...
s in United States service.
Development and deployment
The nominal weight of the bomb is 1,000 lb (454 kg), although its actual weight varies between 985 lb (447 kg) and 1,030 lb (468 kg), depending on
fuze
In military munitions, a fuze (sometimes fuse) is the part of the device that initiates function. In some applications, such as torpedoes, a fuze may be identified by function as the exploder. The relative complexity of even the earliest fuze d ...
options, and fin configuration. The Mk 83 is a streamlined steel casing containing 445 lb (202 kg) of
tritonal high explosive. When filled with PBXN-109 thermally insensitive explosive, the bomb is designated BLU-110.
The Mk 83/BLU-110 is used as the warhead for a variety of precision-guided weapons, including the
GBU-16 Paveway laser-guided bomb
A laser-guided bomb (LGB) is a guided bomb that uses semi-active laser guidance to strike a designated target with greater accuracy than an unguided bomb. First developed by the United States during the Vietnam War, laser-guided bombs quickly p ...
s, the
GBU-32
The Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) is a guidance kit that converts unguided bombs, or "dumb bombs", into all-weather precision-guided munitions. JDAM-equipped bombs are guided by an integrated inertial guidance system coupled to a Global Po ...
JDAM and Quickstrike
sea mines.
The Mk 83 is also used as the warhead in a variety of
Pakistan
Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...
i
smart bombs made by
GIDS. During
Operation Swift Retort in 2019, 2
JF-17 Thunders of the
No. 16 Squadron "Black Panthers" armed with newly developed Mk. 83 Range Extension Kit (REK) bombs struck military targets in
Indian Held Kashmir
Kashmir () is the northernmost geographical region of the Indian subcontinent. Until the mid-19th century, the term "Kashmir" denoted only the Kashmir Valley between the Great Himalayas and the Pir Panjal Range. Today, the term encompass ...
.
This bomb is most typically used by the
United States Navy
The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...
but is used by the
USAF in the
F-22A
The Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor is an American single-seat, twin-engine, all-weather stealth tactical fighter aircraft developed for the United States Air Force (USAF). As the result of the USAF's Advanced Tactical Fighter (ATF) program, th ...
in a
JDAM configuration. According to a test report conducted by the United States Navy's
Weapon System Explosives Safety Review Board (WSESRB) established in the wake of the
1967 USS ''Forrestal'' fire, the
cooking-off time for a Mk 83 is approximately 8 minutes 40 seconds.
See also
*
Mark 81 bomb
*
Mark 82 bomb
*
Mark 84 bomb
*
FAB-500
The FAB-500 is a Soviet-designed general purpose air-dropped bomb with a high-explosive warhead, primarily used by the Russian Air Force, former Soviet republics and customer countries. The original M-54 model was rolled out in 1954, shape ...
– Soviet counterpart
References
External links
Mk83 General-Purpose Bomb
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mark 83 Bomb
Cold War aerial bombs of the United States
Aerial bombs of the United States
Military equipment introduced in the 1960s