Mark 118 bomb

M-118 Demolition Bomb
M-118 displayed at the National Museum of the United States Air Force, Dayton, Ohio
Type	Demolition bomb, free-fall general-purpose bomb
Place of origin	United States
Service history
In service	1950's–present
Used by	United States
Wars	Korean War, Vietnam War
Specifications
Mass	3,000 pounds (1,400 kg)
Maximum firing range	Varies by method of employment
Warhead	Tritonal
Warhead weight	1,975 pounds (896 kg)

The M118 is an air-dropped general-purpose or demolition bomb used by United States military forces. It dates back to the time of the Korean War of the early 1950s. Although it has a nominal weight of 3,000 pounds (1,400 kg), its actual weight, depending on fuse and retardation options, is somewhat higher. A typical non-retarded configuration has a total weight of 3,049 pounds (1,383 kg) with an explosive content of 1,975 pounds (896 kg) of tritonal. This is a higher percentage than in the more recent American Mark 80 series bombs thus the designation as a demolition bomb.^{[citation needed]}

In the late 1950s through the early 1970s it was a standard aircraft weapon, carried by the F-100 Super Sabre, F-104 Starfighter, F-105 Thunderchief, and F-4 Phantom. Some apparently remain in the USAF inventory, although they are rarely used today.

It was a component of the GBU-9/B version of the Rockwell electro-optically guided Homing Bomb System (HOBOS). This weapon consisted of an M118 fitted with a KMU-390/B guidance kit with an image contrast seeker, strakes and cruciform tail fins to guide the bomb to its target. It was also used in the Texas Instruments Paveway series of laser-guided bombs as the GBU-11 when it was fitted with the KMU-388 seeker head, MAU-157 Computer Control Group and the MXU-602 Airfoil Group. This latter consisted of four fixed cruciform fins and four moveable canards to control the bomb's trajectory. It was also fitted with an AIM-9B Sidewinder infra-red seeker and an AGM-45 Shrike nose cone during 1967 tests at the Naval Ordnance Test Station China Lake, possibly in an attempt to create an infra-red guided bomb.^[1] This was called the Bombwinder.

• Arsenal of Democracy II, Tom Gervasi, ISBN 0-394-17662-6
• webpage on the HOBOS
• webpage on the Paveway I family of laser-guided bombs

This page was last edited on 6 August 2024, at 03:32