Tornadoes to drop 'concrete bombs'
Thread Starter
Join Date: Dec 2000
Posts: 14
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Tornadoes to drop 'concrete bombs'
I looked closely at the date, but it says 4th April:
Full piece at BBC News
Now we know. It's not about oil... we want all that sand!
P.S. I remember the "Blue Circle" association of the Torando, but is this a late April Fool?
Tornado jets are poised to use yet another different weapon in the war against Iraq ... concrete bombs.
The jets, normally based at RAF Marham in Norfolk, have already used high-tech weaponry such as the "bunker busting" cruise missile Storm Shadow, which cost £750,000 apiece and can pierce several feet of concrete.
But now the crews operating over Iraq from the Ali Al Salem airbase in northern Kuwait are about to go to the opposite extreme and use "inert bombs".
These are basically blocks of concrete shaped as bombs and painted blue to identify them as non-explosive if they are discovered still intact after the war.
The jets, normally based at RAF Marham in Norfolk, have already used high-tech weaponry such as the "bunker busting" cruise missile Storm Shadow, which cost £750,000 apiece and can pierce several feet of concrete.
But now the crews operating over Iraq from the Ali Al Salem airbase in northern Kuwait are about to go to the opposite extreme and use "inert bombs".
These are basically blocks of concrete shaped as bombs and painted blue to identify them as non-explosive if they are discovered still intact after the war.
Now we know. It's not about oil... we want all that sand!
P.S. I remember the "Blue Circle" association of the Torando, but is this a late April Fool?
Don't think this is a new idea - there was talk of using concrete-filled PGMs a few years ago - I think in relation to Bosnia: land 1,000lb of concrete on a tank, and you'll make it difficult for it to pass its MOT, but won't hit nearby civvies or Culturally Unique National Treasures (a phrase that was abandoned about thirty seconds after it was coined...). The most recent references I've seen to this have been about using the training rounds or a deriviative glorying in the name of Minimum Collateral Damage Weapon.
Lupus Domesticus
Join Date: Mar 2002
Location: NZ
Posts: 520
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
There have been reports of them being used already by RAF and USAF ac enforcing the no-fly zones over Iraq (now extended to cover the entire country!), to take out radar sites and the like where there was a risk of collateral damage.
Half a ton of precision-guided concrete going at close to Mach 1 makes a fair mess of sensitive electronic gear!
Half a ton of precision-guided concrete going at close to Mach 1 makes a fair mess of sensitive electronic gear!
Blue on Blue has taken a whole new definition here!
Supercalifragilistic
expialidocious
expialidocious
Join Date: Sep 2001
Location: Essex, UK
Posts: 588
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Not a terribly new idea - didn't FAA Wyverns use concrete-headed rockets during the 1950s?
Hardly 'precision guided' back then! Perhaps 'precision-aimed', but the flight path of the rockets after release was, I gather, somewhat arbitrary.......
Hardly 'precision guided' back then! Perhaps 'precision-aimed', but the flight path of the rockets after release was, I gather, somewhat arbitrary.......
Lupus Domesticus
Join Date: Mar 2002
Location: NZ
Posts: 520
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
From the deeps of memory come a couple of other examples of "really dumb" weapons triumphing over high tech...
In WWII, NZ soldiers had some success in flushing German troops out of trenches and foxholes in the desert by throwing stones.
The theory, which apparently worked, was that if, at night or in poor light, something landed next to you with a thud, you got out of your hole quicksmart rather than wait to see if it was a grenade.
Why not simply throw a grenade I hear you ask? Probably because, true to British tradition, they weren't in as plentiful supply as they could have been....
During the Soviet incursion into Finland in the same conflict, the Finns managed to take out Russian tanks, using tree branches. The method of operation was to hide behind a tree until the said armour was up close and personal, and then dash out and jam a suitably-sized log into the tracks.
Nip back behind your tree while the tank comes to a grinding halt, and then pop out and shoot the first unfortunate crew member who gets out to see what's wrong.
The Russkies faced a grim choice; stay in your tank and freeze to death, or get out and get shot. The account I read did not mention any Finnish respect for hastily improvised white flags.
In WWII, NZ soldiers had some success in flushing German troops out of trenches and foxholes in the desert by throwing stones.
The theory, which apparently worked, was that if, at night or in poor light, something landed next to you with a thud, you got out of your hole quicksmart rather than wait to see if it was a grenade.
Why not simply throw a grenade I hear you ask? Probably because, true to British tradition, they weren't in as plentiful supply as they could have been....
During the Soviet incursion into Finland in the same conflict, the Finns managed to take out Russian tanks, using tree branches. The method of operation was to hide behind a tree until the said armour was up close and personal, and then dash out and jam a suitably-sized log into the tracks.
Nip back behind your tree while the tank comes to a grinding halt, and then pop out and shoot the first unfortunate crew member who gets out to see what's wrong.
The Russkies faced a grim choice; stay in your tank and freeze to death, or get out and get shot. The account I read did not mention any Finnish respect for hastily improvised white flags.
Join Date: Sep 2000
Location: Over there, behind that tree.
Posts: 581
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Yes Beags, it is not a new idea. Back in 60 at 2FTS, Syreston, there were for a while four Kuwaiti Air Force Jet Provost camel-scarers lodge with us. The Kuwati studes (Jaguar saloon drivers to a man) flew with concrete headed rockets under the wings. The destructive powers of even these un-guided weapons was shown by the inadvertant release of a full salvo by one of the studes on the flight-line - the trees and largish earth-heap on the other side of the airfield didn't stand a chance! The spent missiles are probably still on the bottom of the river Trent (for those that don't know Syertson, river runs along the back boundry).
Join Date: May 2001
Location: Newcastle/UK
Posts: 1,476
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
I read about a idea put forward years ago about what were termed kinetic weapons, the suggestion was that large tool steel darts delivered at high speed by the SR71 could sink a carrier.
Might be a roll for the Concoure once they retire her.
Never understood why they retired the Blackbird but kept the U2 operational.
Might be a roll for the Concoure once they retire her.
Never understood why they retired the Blackbird but kept the U2 operational.
Join Date: Sep 2000
Location: Over there, behind that tree.
Posts: 581
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Imagine the scene though - heat of battle, confusion, smoke, noise, and though the dust, debris and tracer comes a Blue Circle concrete mixer truck with yer typical, fag-smoking, truck driver leaning out the cab window - "' 'scuse me mate, I'm yer close air support. Where d'ya want it, eh? Come on squire, ain't got all day y'know, got two more fire-fights to do before me lunch!"
Wasn't there a case in WWII in which a German bomber came over and carefully (and with great accuracy) dropped a stick of wooden bombs on a British dummy airfield. Herman's little 'joke', as it were? I'm sure I read something about it somewhere.
