S African CB-470 Alpha bomb submunition

#1

I’m not really sure if this is an appropriate topic for this venue, but if not here, where?

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,253713,00.html

The most obvious question is, after all, WTH IS this thing? Apparently no one knows or, knowing, is commenting.

The second question, less obvious, has to be why would the military destroy it without answering the first question? If it had enough value to hidden away for future use against us, I would think it would be worth knowing its purpose, mechanism, etc.

Steering clear of political / policy matters, any comments / ideas?

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#2

That is really interesting! I certainly have no clue, but knowing what a looser and cruel man Sadam WAS, it could be anything. I am so happy he is gone. Anyhow, I know little about chemical weapons but maybe that is what it is?

On a separate note: I love your disclaimer, "Steering clear of political / policy matters, any comments / ideas? "

I may have to borrow that line once in a while :-)! Thanks so much for that post. I thought the weapon was very interesting. Just happy no one go hurt by it while destroying it.

#3

“The first casualty of war is truth”. I would not believe anything said about mystery weapons reported by ANY media. NO UNUSUAL WEAPONS WHICH ARE CAPTURED OR RECOVERED ARE DESTROYED BY U.S. TROOPS BEFORE COMPLETE EXAMINATION - IF POSSIBLE. This “mystery” object could be a fairly typical early submunition design. Given the scant details it may have been a dud picked up by a farmer(not a good idea) and hidden away with other recovered ordnance. The recessed “firing device” would likely be an impact or combined impact/time fuze. I would not discount a bio/chem filler without more examination.

FURTHERMORE- I would not totally discount a very early bronze cannon ball without further information.

Anyone really interested can go over to Andrew Duguid’s Big-ordnance site which is linked from the home page and look at a variety of ball type submunitions. There are hundreds more types- experimental and tactical.

#4

Its a S African CB-470 Alpha bomb submunition. Relatively common in Iraq although normally as the all up munition as they didn’t drop that many. The giveaway is the ‘cantaloup’ reference.

Of note safety prong is missing but the tear off arming tab which attachs to the eject mechanism is in place which is why it hasnt functioned. All the ones I’ve seen have been in excellant condiction and really well made- far better than any of the Iraqi manufactured stuff. Still if they dont know what it is why pick it up?.
It is in the NAVEODTECHDIV Iraq Ord ID guide scatterable sections page 16. Interesting weapon designed to overcome some of the issues of very low eject of submunitions.

#5

Fantastic ID Nematoad! Scary stuff to be picking up.

#6

saairforce.co.za/weapons/cb470.htm

#7

[quote=“nematoad”]Its a S African CB-470 Alpha bomb submunition. Relatively common in Iraq although normally as the all up munition as they didn’t drop that many. The giveaway is the ‘cantaloup’ reference.

Of note safety prong is missing but the tear off arming tab which attachs to the eject mechanism is in place which is why it hasnt functioned. All the ones I’ve seen have been in excellant condiction and really well made- far better than any of the Iraqi manufactured stuff. Still if they dont know what it is why pick it up?.
It is in the NAVEODTECHDIV Iraq Ord ID guide scatterable sections page 16. Interesting weapon designed to overcome some of the issues of very low eject of submunitions.[/quote]

MYSTERY SOLVED ; SHOWS HOW MUCH EFFORT IS TAKEN TO ID SOMETHING BEFORE GOING TO PRESS WITH IT.

#8

Well, the media is made to earn money with people reading, watching or listening to them. Nobody said anything about the truth.

#9

nematoad, thanks for the detailed ID! Kinda figured someone here would know!

Drifting pretty far off topic now, folks. I don’t disagree with the opinions which have been expressed to this point, but such comments are more useful in other venues and the reason I premised the inquiry with "(s)teering clear of political / policy matters . . . " so I’m going to lock this one up before we get into them further.

Thanks to ALL !!!

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