NSTL on bombs with one fuse?

[MeanJim]

I usually only use one fuse if I'm using a plugged nose and a delayed tail fuse, and I've always left it on NSTL and it still worked.  Tonight I was messing around and took some Mk82's with the default nose fuse, and plugged tail fuse.  On the SMS page, I left it on NSTL, and the bombs were duds.  I didn't have the time to test if a plugged nose and tail fuse worked.  Before I go to the trouble of testing other single fuse options and reporting it as a bug, I want to make sure if this is correct behavior.

[RogueSpecterGaming]

3 hours ago, MeanJim said:

I usually only use one fuse if I'm using a plugged nose and a delayed tail fuse, and I've always left it on NSTL and it still worked.  Tonight I was messing around and took some Mk82's with the default nose fuse, and plugged tail fuse.  On the SMS page, I left it on NSTL, and the bombs were duds.  I didn't have the time to test if a plugged nose and tail fuse worked.  Before I go to the trouble of testing other single fuse options and reporting it as a bug, I want to make sure if this is correct behavior.

If using a FMU-139, 143, or 152 and no fuze in the nose (plugged), keeping it on NSTL is fine as you need the NOSE option in order to have the center solenoid hold the arming loop on the initiator which activates those fuzes. You could select the NOSE only, as the initiator is the only loop since those are electrical fuzes (will double check my work notes but 99% sure you can do that). Mechanical fuzes like the M905 requires the TAIL option as the loop for that goes into the tail solenoid on the MAU-12. 

 

Default MK82s in DCS usually always come with both nose and tail fuzes (M904 and M905) so NSTL should've activated the fuses. 

 

If you can, can you please post a track. I did have a GBU-10 appear to DUD on me as well the other day, but didn't think too much of it as I was focused on something else. 

Edited Tuesday at 07:19 AM by RogueSpecterGaming

[MeanJim]

I tried, but I can't replicate what happened yesterday.  I left the nose fuse the default (M904E4), set the arm delay to 2s, left function delay at 0s.  For the tail fuze well I selected plugged.  I set the same options on SMS; single bomb, RP 6, and 200ft spacing.  I even dropped them the same way, about a 20° dive at 2500ft AGL.  The bombs are exploding now.

Your dud GBU-10 wouldn't have been using the new TGP on a point track of a moving target?  There is a known bug with the new TGP where LGBs miss moving targets in point track.  That was what I was initially testing to see if it was fixed with the update (it isn't).  I took two GBU-12s and 6 Mk-82s.  The first GBU-12 didn't track, but I was able to use INR track and manually keep it on the moving target.  I was going to use the Mk-82s to clean up, but they failed to explode.

[RogueSpecterGaming]

On 7/29/2025 at 9:09 AM, MeanJim said:

I tried, but I can't replicate what happened yesterday.  I left the nose fuse the default (M904E4), set the arm delay to 2s, left function delay at 0s.  For the tail fuze well I selected plugged.  I set the same options on SMS; single bomb, RP 6, and 200ft spacing.  I even dropped them the same way, about a 20° dive at 2500ft AGL.  The bombs are exploding now.

Your dud GBU-10 wouldn't have been using the new TGP on a point track of a moving target?  There is a known bug with the new TGP where LGBs miss moving targets in point track.  That was what I was initially testing to see if it was fixed with the update (it isn't).  I took two GBU-12s and 6 Mk-82s.  The first GBU-12 didn't track, but I was able to use INR track and manually keep it on the moving target.  I was going to use the Mk-82s to clean up, but they failed to explode.

Alright so a quick breakdown of fuzes and what to select and the bomb will still work:

MK82/84 GP on a MAU-12/TER with M904/905:

NOSE, TAIL, or NSTL selected = bomb explodes

 

MK82/84 GP on a MAU-12/TER(82 only) with FMU-139/152/DSU33:

NOSE or NSTL selected = bomb explodes

TAIL selected = DUD
 

MK82/84 GP on a MAU-12 with FMU-139/152/M904

NOSE or NSTL selected = bomb explodes

TAIL selected = DUD

 

MK82 GP on a TER with FMU-139/152/M904

NOSE, TAIL, or NSTL selected = bomb explodes

 

GBU-10E/B and GBU-12B/B on MAU-12 with FMU-139, FMU-152 tail fuze only

NOSE or NSTL selected = bomb guides and explodes

TAIL selected = DUD: Bomb is unguided and fails to explode

 

GBU-10E/B and GBU-12B/B on MAU-12 with M905 tail fuze only

NOSE selected = DUD Bomb guides but fails to explode

TAIL selected = DUD: Bomb is unguided but explodes

NSTL selected = bomb guides and explodes

 

GBU-12B/B on TER with M905 tail fuze only

NOSE selected = DUD bomb is guided but fails to explode

TAIL selected = bomb guides and explodes

NSTL selected = bomb guides and explodes

 

GBU-12B/B on TER with FMU-139, FMU-152 tail fuze only

NOSE or NSTL selected = bomb guides and explodes

TAIL selected = DUD bomb is guided but fails to explode

 

Who knows maybe the hotfix fixed the problem with bombs going DUD. I havent tried yet but I will soon. I did not have a tracking problem. The bomb guided down to where I was pointing (stationary target), but it didn't explode despite having NSTL selected. Will do some testing this weekend and see if they magically tossed a fix in.