BLU-43/B and BLU-44/B (Bomb Live Unit) "Dragontooth" were air-dropped

cluster may refer to: Science and technology Astronomy * Cluster (spacecraft), constellation of four European Space Agency spacecraft * Cluster II (spacecraft), a European Space Agency mission to study the magnetosphere * Asteroid cluster, a small ...

-type

land mine A land mine, or landmine, is an explosive weapon often concealed under or camouflaged on the ground, and designed to destroy or disable enemy targets as they pass over or near it. Land mines are divided into two types: anti-tank mines, wh ...

s used by the United States during the Vietnam War. It is chemically activated and has a relatively low explosive content, typically maiming rather than killing.

Overview

The Dragontooth was designed during the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (1 November 1955 – 30 April 1975) was an armed conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fought between North Vietnam (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and South Vietnam (Republic of Vietnam) and their allies. North Vietnam w ...

as part of a number of programs designed to prevent infiltration into South Vietnam. Dragontooth was one of several airborne land mines tested, being preferred by the military because they could be used to deny access to large areas to foot traffic. Its area-denial qualities were exemplified in the fact that the explosive content of any individual mine was readily capable of killing the victim, being powerful enough to remove a person's foot, but potentially incapable of even flattening the tire of a truck passing over it.United States, 1971. p. 138 The use of Dragontooth mines in Vietnam went largely unnoticed, likely as a product of its essentially classified usage primarily in Laos as part of Operation Igloo White. Production of the system had ceased by 1970, and it was predicted that existing stocks would be exhausted by the end of 1971. In stark contrast to the lack of public commentary on the Dragontooth system, the subsequent

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

equivalent, the PFM-1, spurred a lot of controversy after being used in

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...

during the Soviet intervention in Afghanistan, being a key element leading to the

International Campaign to Ban Landmines The International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL) is a coalition of non-governmental organizations whose objective is a world free of anti-personnel mines and cluster munitions, where mine and cluster munitions survivors see their rights res ...

Design

The mine itself is made out of plastic, and is hydraulically activated and contact/pressure detonated. The color of the plastic varied and could be olive drab, tan, brown, or camouflaged, and had no painted or molded markings. Each mine contained a small amount of liquid nitromethane/nitroethane explosive and was designed with a shape that would cause it to spiral down to the ground, removing the need for a parachute. A chemical self-neutralization system was used in the mines, rendering the main explosive content inert after a period of time after activation. The two major variants, the BLU–43/B and BLU–44/B, differ only in the process by which they were thus "sterilized." However the reliability of the mechanism was largely unknown, and the detonator and booster charge could still present a hazard. The complete Dragontooth system involved the loading of either the BLU–43/B or BLU–44/B (or its variant BLU–44A/B) into complete cluster munitions. A total of 120 BLU–43/B fit into a single CDU–2/B cluster adapter, forty of which were then loaded into a SUU-13/A cluster dispenser to form the complete CBU-28/A cluster munition. An identical number of BLU–44/B mines loaded into an identical number of CDU–3/B adapters fitted to the SUU–13/A dispenser formed the complete CBU–37/A.Parsch, Andreas. ''Designation-Systems.net''. 4 February 2008
BAK to BSU/BSG - Equipment Listing
Access Date: 27 March 2008 The SUU–13/A was a cluster dispenser that remained attached to the aircraft, dispensing cluster adapters of mines as the aircraft flew forward, unlike cluster bombs, which are released from an aircraft and then dispense their submunitions.

Specifications

* Weight: * Length: * Width: (when armed) * Depth: * Explosive content: of a

nitromethane Nitromethane, sometimes shortened to simply "nitro", is an organic compound with the chemical formula . It is the simplest organic nitro compound. It is a polar liquid commonly used as a solvent in a variety of industrial applications such as in ...

nitroethane Nitroethane is an organic compound having the chemical formula C2H5NO2. Similar in many regards to nitromethane, nitroethane is an oily liquid at standard temperature and pressure. Pure nitroethane is colorless and has a fruity odor. Preparati ...

mixture * Sensitizer: propylenediamine and

methanol Methanol (also called methyl alcohol and wood spirit, amongst other names) is an organic chemical compound and the simplest aliphatic Alcohol (chemistry), alcohol, with the chemical formula (a methyl group linked to a hydroxyl group, often ab ...

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