The E48 particulate bomb was a U.S. biological sub-munition designed during the 1950s for use with the E96 cluster bomb.

History

In February 1950 a

U.S. Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of the United Stat ...

report prepared by William Creasy, a colonel within the U.S. bio-weapons program, noted that the E48 particulate bomb was in its final stages of development. Creasy also reported that the E48 had been successfully tested in three field trials.Endicott, Stephen and Hagerman, Edward. ''The United States and Biological Warfare: Secrets from the Early Cold War and Korea'',
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, Indiana University Press, 1998, pp. 67-68, ().

Specifications

The E48 particulate bomb was a sub-munition meant to be clustered in the E38 type cluster adapter, together the E48 and E38 constituted the E96 cluster bomb. In practice, the E96 and its payload of E48 sub-munitions was intended to be air-dropped from . The weapon could generate an elliptical aerosol agent cloud from this altitude that had major axes of . Some of the agents considered for use with the E48 included, '' B. suis'',

anthrax Anthrax is an infection caused by the bacterium '' Bacillus anthracis'' or ''Bacillus cereus'' biovar ''anthracis''. Infection typically occurs by contact with the skin, inhalation, or intestinal absorption. Symptom onset occurs between one ...

, and botulin.Whitby, Simon. ''Biological Warfare Against Crops'',
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, Macmillan, 2002, pp. 106-07, ().

Tests involving the E48

The E48 sub-munition was utilized in tests at

Dugway Proving Ground Dugway Proving Ground (DPG) is a United States Army facility established in 1942 to test biological and chemical weapons, located about southwest of Salt Lake City, Utah and south of the Utah Test and Training Range. Location Dugway Provin ...

in July and August 1950. The July tests released '' Bacillus globigii'' from the E48 using air-dropped cluster bombs. The August tests utilized the bacteria ''

Serratia marcescens ''Serratia marcescens'' () is a species of bacillus (shape), rod-shaped, Gram-negative bacteria in the family Yersiniaceae. It is a facultative anaerobe and an opportunistic pathogen in humans. It was discovered in 1819 by Bartolomeo Bizio in Pa ...

'', and involved E48s which dispersed the agent statically, from the ground.Subcommittee on Zinc Cadmium Sulfide,

U.S. National Research Council The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM), also known as the National Academies, is a Congressional charter, congressionally chartered organization that serves as the collective scientific national academy of the Uni ...

. ''Toxicologic Assessment of the Army's Zinc Cadmium Sulfide Dispersion'',
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, National Academies Press, 1997, pp. 285-88, ().

References

{{U.S. biological weapons Biological weapon delivery systems Submunitions Cold War aerial bombs of the United States