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Enthusiast Joined: Dec 08, 2003 Posts: 30

Are the Mk 20 rockeyes still in use on the F-16?

I tought they went out of use ... but not sure. Can anyone confirm?

greets Mil

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Nope. I think Desert Storm was the last use made of the Rockeye.

F-16.net Editor Joined: Sep 23, 2003 Posts: 2862

I was looking for similar info a couple months back.

I haven't found much about Rocks in OIF, so the short answer is: "I don't know." O.T. Much isn't said about M77 newer Napalm like equivalent. But M77s were used by the USMC in at least one occassion I know of in OIF, to put some smack down on some baddys on the other side of a bridge/river setup. Got real quiet like after the strike. The point being it just takes a lot of checking sometimes to find out oddball stuff. I do know Rocks are still in USN service, up to around 2000-2001 as the latest dates I read. But again I don't have any hard info on Rock use in OIF. I am sure some experts do.

Here are some numbers:

The cluster bombs used in Desert Storm were the CBU-52/58/71 (quantity: 17,831), CBU-78 (209), CBU-87 (10,035), CBU-89 (1,105), and MK-20 Rockeye (27,987).

The cluster bombs expended during OIF were
AGM-154 JSOW (253), CBU-103/105/107 WCMD (908), CBU-87 (118), and CBU-99 (182) -- plus approximately 70 units dropped by the RAF.

Note, when you are talking about WCMD then you get into some weird area. WCMD in its CBU-105 setup with sensor fused weapons (one example), Does not leave UXBs ( unexploded bombs ) littering the target area.

Other: JSOW A models are submunition birds. ( B model sensor fused weapon Unfunded ) ( C model, single warhead, recently funded by USN only )

Also... After problems with other leaflet canisters, some smart people decided to go to a big munitions depot and tossed around the idea of taking a Rock and have it refirbed to carry leaflets. It was used in Afghanistan and OIF under a new name: PDU-5/B. The special people that do leaflets love it and estimate there is a 20mil savings of not having to develop a new canister for leaflets from scratch. The first test of the PDU-5/B was on an..... F-16. Although I don't know what else it is dropped from in the real world.

The USAF doesn't really use the MK-20s any longer, however they are still authorized for the A model (not the C) aircraft. However, the Mk-20 is widely authorized for use in the worldwide F-16.

Like Elp stated, they "turned" the MK-20 into a leaflet bomb.

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Mk 20 s?