The M34 cluster bomb was the first mass-produced
United States Army
The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, 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 th ...
weapon meant to deliver the
chemical agent sarin (GB). A large stockpile of M34s was destroyed between 1973 and 1976.
History
As the
United States Army Chemical Corps focused its efforts on the weaponization of
sarin
Sarin (NATO designation GB nerve_agent#G-series.html" ;"title="hort for nerve agent#G-series">G-series, "B" is an extremely toxic organophosphorus compound.[nerve agent
Nerve agents, sometimes also called nerve gases, are a class of organic chemistry, organic chemicals that disrupt the mechanisms by which nerves transfer messages to organs. The disruption is caused by the blocking of acetylcholinesterase (ACh ...]
(GB) during the 1950s the M34 cluster bomb was the first such weapon mass-produced by the Army.
[Smart, Jeffery K. ]
Medical Aspects of Chemical and Biological Warfare
'': Chapter 2 — History of Chemical and Biological Warfare: An American Perspective,
PDF
: pp. 41-42), ''Borden Institute
The Borden Institute is a U.S. Army “Center of Excellence in Military Medical Research and Education”.
In 1987, U.S. Army Colonel Russ Zajtchuk conceived the idea for a “Center of Excellence in Military Medical Research and Education,” u ...
'', Textbooks of Military Medicine, PDF via Maxwell-Gunter Air Force Base
Maxwell Air Force Base , officially known as Maxwell-Gunter Air Force Base, is a United States Air Force (USAF) installation under the Air Education and Training Command (AETC). The installation is located in Montgomery, Alabama, United States. ...
, accessed December 10, 2008. The weapon was the United States' first major nerve agent weapon after World War II.
[
]
Specifications
The M34 had a diameter of and a length of .[ This particular ]cluster bomb
A cluster munition is a form of air-dropped or ground-launched explosive weapon that releases or ejects smaller submunitions. Commonly, this is a cluster bomb that ejects explosive bomblets that are designed to kill personnel and destroy vehi ...
was designed to carry a total weight of of sarin nerve agent, the weapon's total weight was .[ The M34 cluster bomb held 76 M125 bomblet sub-munitions, each of the sub-munitions held of GB.][ The weapons also contained a parachute, an opening delay, fuze, and a burster which held of ]tetryl
2,4,6-Trinitrophenylmethylnitramine or tetryl ( C7 H5 N5 O8) is an explosive compound used to make detonators and explosive booster charges.
Tetryl is a nitramine booster explosive, though its use has been largely superseded by RDX. Tetryl is a ...
.[Mauroni, Albert J. ''Chemical Demilitarization: Public Policy Aspects'',]
Google Books
, Greenwood Publishing Group, 2003, p. 19, ().
Storage and disposal programs
When Operation Cut Holes and Sink 'Em (CHASE) was cancelled the Army had to scrap a plan to dump more than 20,000 M34 cluster bombs at sea.[ In 1972 there were still more than 21,000 M34 cluster munitions stored at the Rocky Mountain Arsenal, near ]Denver
Denver ( ) is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Consolidated city and county, consolidated city and county, the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous city of the U.S. state of ...
, Colorado
Colorado is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is also bordered by Wyoming to the north, Nebraska to the northeast, Kansas ...
.[ Between 1973 and 1976 the Army began destroying these munitions under the auspices of Project Eagle.][ To dispose of the munitions the Army drained the Sarin from the bomblets, mixed it with a ]caustic
Caustic most commonly refers to:
* Causticity, the property of being able to corrode organic tissue
** Sodium hydroxide, sometimes called ''caustic soda''
** Potassium hydroxide, sometimes called ''caustic potash''
** Calcium oxide, sometimes cal ...
inside a reactor chamber, and spray-dried the brine
Brine (or briny water) is a high-concentration solution of salt (typically sodium chloride or calcium chloride) in water. In diverse contexts, ''brine'' may refer to the salt solutions ranging from about 3.5% (a typical concentration of seawat ...
.[ Project Eagle resulted in the demilitarization and destruction of about of Sarin and of the spray-dried salt.][ The salt was stored in 18,000 steel and ]fiberboard
Fiberboard (American English) or fibreboard (Commonwealth English) is a type of engineered wood product that is made out of wood fibers. Types of fiberboard (in order of increasing density) include particle board or low-density fiberboard (LDF ...
drums and placed in a toxic storage site at Rocky Mountain Arsenal.[Natural Resource Trustees for the State of Colorado. ''Hazardous Materials and Waste Management Division Natural Resource Damage Assessment for the Rocky Mountain Arsenal Commerce City, Colorado'',]
Site Description
, October 24, 2007, p. 9, Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, accessed December 10, 2008.
See also
* M33 cluster bomb
References
{{U.S. chemical weapons
Chemical weapon delivery systems
Cluster munitions
Chemical weapons of the United States
Military equipment introduced in the 1950s