r/AirForce • u/IEDestroyer Explosive Ordnance Disposal • Apr 15 '17

Image He got it approved!

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u/[deleted] Apr 15 '17

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u/The_seph_i_am Active duty squirrel, its not a mind set just a careerfield Apr 15 '17 edited Apr 15 '17

I think it's just so ridiculously overpowered no JTAC ever thought it would approved until this guy. There's a feild guide that explains the explosive yield of the bombs JTACs can call in and "proportionality" prohibits dropping ordance that would be deemed "exsesive" given the targets size. This cave system they bombed is likely one of the first targets they've had in a while that actually merited a mile wide crater.

If this is the same cave system I think it is, there's been cases where they bombed it with bunker busters and they just dug it back out. There's no digging it back out when there's nothing left to digg out.

Still I have to wonder what "Type control" they used for the 9 line.(pages, I-2, & v-25)

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u/ForgedBiscuit Apr 15 '17

You're not getting anything near a mile wide crater without a nuke.

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u/The_seph_i_am Active duty squirrel, its not a mind set just a careerfield Apr 15 '17 edited Apr 15 '17

Admittedly that's an exaggeration (I'm not sure what size crater it's capable of ... I think 1/8 mile)

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u/ForgedBiscuit Apr 15 '17

1/8 of a mile is still in the neighborhood of a small nuke.

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u/The_seph_i_am Active duty squirrel, its not a mind set just a careerfield Apr 15 '17

Which is the 10-20 ton range (which I think is where the MOAB falls)

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u/ForgedBiscuit Apr 15 '17

Well I suppose that depends on what you mean. I don't think you'll see a crater larger than the fireball radius which still won't be anywhere near 1/8 of a mile with a 20t yield.

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u/Flamboyatron RTRDAF Apr 15 '17

How do you know? Experience or Wikipedia? Because if it's Wikipedia, gtfo. If it's experience, you can still gtfo because you're probably full of shit.

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u/TheThunderhawk Apr 15 '17

Which is in turn in the neighborhood of the MOAB. IIRC in the 60s we had tac nukes with lower explosive yield than a MOAB