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Mark 84 bomb
2000 lb unguided aerial bomb From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The Mark 84 or BLU-117[8] is a 2,000-pound (900 kg) American general purpose aircraft bomb. It is the largest of the Mark 80 series of weapons. Entering service during the Vietnam War, it became a commonly used US heavy unguided bomb. At the time, it was the third largest bomb by weight in the US inventory behind the 15,000-pound (6,800 kg) BLU-82 "Daisy Cutter" and the 3,000-pound (1,400 kg) M118 "demolition" bomb. It is currently sixth in size due to the addition of the 5,000 lb (2,300 kg) GBU-28 in 1991, the 22,600 lb (10,300 kg) GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast bomb (MOAB) in 2003, and the 30,000 lb (14,000 kg) GBU-57A/B Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP).
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The Mark 84 has a nominal weight of 2,000 lb (907 kg), but its actual weight varies depending on its fin, fuze options, and retardation configuration, from 1,972 to 2,083 lb (894 to 945 kg). It is a streamlined steel casing filled with 945 lb (429 kg) of tritonal high explosive.[9]
The Mark 84 can form a crater 50 feet (15 m) wide and 36 ft (11 m) deep. It can penetrate up to 15 inches (38 cm) of metal or 11 ft (3.4 m) of concrete, depending on the height from which it is dropped, and causes lethal fragmentation to a radius of 400 feet (120 m).[10]
Many Mark 84s have been retrofitted with stabilizing and retarding devices to provide precision guidance capabilities. They serve as the warhead of a variety of precision-guided munitions,[11] including the GBU-10/GBU-24/GBU-27 Paveway laser-guided bombs, GBU-15 electro-optical bomb, GBU-31 JDAM and Quickstrike sea mines.[12] The HGK is a Turkish guidance kit used to convert 2000-lb Mark 84 bombs into GPS/INS guided smart bombs.[13]
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 84 is about 8 minutes 40 seconds.
Deployment in wars
MK 84 were used by U.S. forces in the Vietnam War, Gulf War,[14] Iraq War, Afghanistan War, and the bombing of Yugoslavia,[15] and by Israel in the 2014 Gaza War and the ongoing Gaza war.[16][17]
According to a forensic investigation by Human Rights Watch, MK 84 bombs were also in the Saudi-led intervention in the Yemeni civil war.[18]
In 2023 and 2024, the United States transferred over 14,000 Mark 84 bombs to Israel. They have been used extensively in the Gaza Strip during the Gaza war. At least one of the bombs was used in the 13 July 2024 al-Mawasi attack that killed the top commander of Hamas' military wing, Mohammed Deif, and Hamas' Khan Yunis Military Division Chief Rafa Salama and 90+ others.[19][20][21]
According to the US Senator Mark Kelly, Israel used a bomb of this type in the assassination of Hassan Nasrallah, leader of Hezbollah, in Lebanon on September 27, 2024.[22]
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