GBU-24 warhead option

[leon737]

What GBU-24 warhead option is available now?

I suppose that is GP Mk.84. Is it correct?

[Weasel]

What GBU-24 warhead option is available now?
I suppose that is GP Mk.84. Is it correct?

No, as far as I know it's a BLU-109

[Silver_Dragon]

the actual option has only the BLU-109, meanwhile, has other warhead options.

 

Quote

Mk. 84 – 910 kilograms (2,000 lb) General Purpose
BLU-109 – 910 kilograms (2,000 lb) Penetrator
BLU-116 – Advanced Unitary Penetrator
CPE-800 – Used in the BPG-2000, a similar, indigenous Spanish weapon

Check here:

http://www.designation-systems.net/dusrm/app5/paveway-3.html

 

[Bunny Clark]

The one we have now is the BLU-109 version, the Mk.84 version has a pretty different body shape. 

[Northstar98]

Yeah, looks like we have the GBU-24A/B or B/B, though hopefully doing the GBU-24/B (Mk84) wouldn't be so difficult to do. 

 

But I wish DCS would stick bomb variants on the end too, it would save some of the confusing if we knew exactly what was what (the same can be said for a lot of things actually).

[leon737]

Agree.

The confusion arose because of different information in the update notes (stated A/B option) and the mission editor payload section (option is not specified at all).

And as @Bunny Clarkadvised that the ammo looks like x/B option.

 

Most likely it's actually A/B with BLU-109.

Thanks mates.

 

Edited January 31, 2021 by leon737

[Frederf]

/B just means configured for aerial expenditure. It's not an actual description of the weapon. E.g. GBU-24A and GBU-24A/B are the same thing. Any time you see a weapon that ends "/B" you can omit it mentally unless you care how it's installed. It's the same thing as a GAU-8/A on an A-10. If it falls off it's /B. If it's in the back of a C-17 on a pallet then it's GAU-8/N. If you put it on a ship it's GAU-8/W.

 

Visually it's clearly a BLU-109A, or -116A and not a MK 84. By nature of it being that shape and USN you can narrow it down to: 24B, 24D, 24E, 24F, 24G. Since we're probably not getting the GPS/INS version that narrows it to 24B or 24D the difference between those is BLU-109A or -116A. The -116 is similar to the 109 with improved penetration ability. If you assume we'd get the baseline penetrator warhead that suggests GBU-24B.

[Rescue]

Hello!

While it looks like a BLU-109 penetrator warhead, some people said that the code of the bomb tells the game it's a normal mk84 warhead.

 

What's going on there? WIP?

Greetings

[gachatar]

Speaking of different warheads, is there any INGAME GAMEPLAY difference in DCS between Mk-84 and BLU-109?

[Tholozor]

A Mk-84 will damage an Ammunition Depot and cause it to burn down in a number of minutes. A BLU-109 will usually outright destroy the whole thing in one hit.

[Foka]

DCS doesn't have implemeted penetration warheads, it just simulates with bigger value of high explosives, so BLU has simply more blast.

 

[Northstar98]

Yeah, what Foka said.

 

Penetration just seems to be an explosive mass boost against certain objects.

 

Spoiler

Here's how DCS defines penetrating warheads (there's also a dedicated anti-ship version, a cumulative version, and a HE penetrating version. This is the one used for the BLU-109.

 

function penetrating_warhead(power, caliber)
	local res = {};
	
	res.caliber = caliber;
	res.expl_mass = power*explosivePercent;
	res.mass = res.expl_mass;
	res.other_factors = {1, 1, 1};
	res.obj_factors = {1, 1};
	res.concrete_factors = {5, 1, 10};
	res.cumulative_factor = 0.0;
	res.concrete_obj_factor = 5.0;
	res.cumulative_thickness = 0.0;
	
	calcPiercingMass(res)
	return res;
end

 

And here's how the BLU-109 is defined:

 

warheads["BLU_109"] = penetrating_warhead(874, 370);

So it's modelling an explosive mass of 874kg with a calibre of 370mm, the real BLU-109 has 240kg of explosive mass, though the BLU-109 itself has a mass of 874kg

 

This is all there is the warheads.lua file in Scripts -> Database -> Weapons