Today’s bombs are fairly straightforward, in that a 500-pound bomb pretty much explodes the same way, every time. But tomorrow’s bombs will unleash only as much hell as they have to.

The Air Force wants conventional bombs to have a “dial a yield” mechanism, borrowed from nuclear weapons, that allows a bomb to explode with full force, something less than full force, or to not explode at all. Sometimes a small explosion is a better explosion, because it would allow the military to bomb targets in closer proximity to civilians without killing them.

For years, U.S. nuclear weapons have had a “dial a yield” capability that allows the operator to select the weapon’s explosive power. The B61-12 nuclear gravity bomb, for example, can be set to explode with the power of 300 tons, 1,500 tons, 10,000 tons, or 50,000 tons of TNT. This gives the operator great flexibility, scaling the bomb’s power down to attack a formation of enemy tanks or up to devastate a large complex.

In the case on conventional wars, bombs need to be ever larger and more destructive. But the irregular wars in Afghanistan, Syria, Iraq, Libya, and elsewhere have flipped this notion on its head. What's needed is not more power, but the ability to place smaller bombs more accurately to minimize harm to civilians and other noncombatants.

On the face of it, the answer sounds simple: just send planes with smaller bombs. But some targets require big bombs and some require small bombs. Carrying only one kind of weapon prevents a jet from engaging targets that require the other. But what if the Air Force could carry one high-yield bomb that could be dialed down to explode with less force? What if a 2,000-lb. bomb could explode with full force or not even explode at all, using only kinetic energy and the bomb’s sheer mass to take out a single, small target?

Breaking Defense says the service is now looking for adjustable yields for conventional high explosive bombs. The new Dialable Effects Munition (DEM) is a 2,000-lb. bomb that can explode with full force or something short of that. A technology demonstrator, DEM probably won’t see combat. Following that will be the Selectable Effects Munition (SEM), a 250-lb. bomb whose explosive yield pilots can adjust from the cockpit. It’s possible that eventually, the entire U.S. military bomb inventory could be composed of dial-a-yield bombs.



The technology, BD explains, involves using 3D printing to manufacture a warhead with multiple built-in fuzes. This method allows the operator to explode part or all of the high explosive contained in the bomb casing. Different parts of the bomb can also be set off in different sequences to change the shape of the blast, focusing it in on direction as opposed to all directions. The result is a bomb that can take out a tank in the middle of a field or a terrorist vehicle nearby a crowded street in the same mission.

Read more at Breaking Defense .

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