Forum: F-16 Armament & Stores

I think that the BLU-107's are probably all shelf-life expired by now, but I think the F-16 was certified to fly them. At Nellis in the late 1980's, the 422nd flew 6 of them in a live drop test, but that's the extent of what I saw with the 107.

Is this still listed as an inventory munition for the F-16?

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Guess the shelf life depends on the rocket motor?

Not really a useful weapon today, the way we do business.

That is a first day of the war weapon to help close down a runway. Problem is that you have to get shot at by everybody and their brother to use the thing. Nasty things like Rapier, Roland, MANPADS, SA-8, SA-9 and their upgrade path replacements to name a few, "Zoos" and similar modern AAA. Then of course forget all that legacy stuff for a minute and imagine this career ender on a Durandal run. Shocked

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2K22M_Tunguska-M1

Where with a BLU-109 fitted with JDAM, you can drop 10-13 miles away and contempt of engage trashfire, AAA, MANPADs, whole families of battlefield SAMs. BLU-109 might not be as showy as Durandal but it is good enough to stop runway ops while you SDB a whole base (where SDB will take out most HAS also including an airburst option for aircraft parked in the open).

Slater, it's still in the F-16 OFP, but that's not really indicative of its operational use. Given the relative cost of deleting a store from the code vs. just ignoring it, a lot of weapons live on in the F-16 OFP despite their disappearance everywhere else.

elp, how can you dismiss the BLU-107 as not being "the way we do business" today and then include a weapon (SDB) that's not even being deployed yet? You're just hatin' on the Durandal, man.

BLU-107 was a bit touchy, apparently. I recall the T.O. saying that if it was flown three times and still not expended it had to be marked for disposal. If it was exposed to a certain high humidity level for a set amount of time, it had to be "conditioned" at less than 40% humidity for 12 hours (or some such). Shelf life was originally 11 years (this was back in the late 1980's), so unless Hill has OK'ed a shelf life extension at some time they're all probably expired.

I seem to recall that the US was originally a partner with the UK on the JP-233 anti-runway munition, but pulled out of the program. That left the USAF with no viable anti-runway capability at the time so the BLU-107 was bought (probably more as a stop-gap than anything else).

Loomis wrote:

Slater, it's still in the F-16 OFP, but that's not really indicative of its operational use. Given the relative cost of deleting a store from the code vs. just ignoring it, a lot of weapons live on in the F-16 OFP despite their disappearance everywhere else.

elp, how can you dismiss the BLU-107 as not being "the way we do business" today and then include a weapon (SDB) that's not even being deployed yet? You're just hatin' on the Durandal, man.

Durandal was hot stuff and should be given it's due for past jobs years ago. SDB being deployed at it's slow rate to different aiframes is more a function of money me thinks given all the other things we are payin for. Very Happy

BLU-107's are no longer an authorized weapon to load on USAF F-16's

Cheers,

ViperDude

Forum: F-16 Armament & Stores

BLU-107 and the F-16