Air Force seeks more powerful ‘bunker busters’

The Air Force is developing more powerful “bunker buster” bombs, new reports say.

An Air Force Research Laboratory officer is quoted in a post in the “Warrior Maven” blog saying that “The A2K will bring the next-generation of penetration and use new contours.”

The officer quoted is identified as Col. Gary Hasse, an AFRL weapons developer. AFRL is headquarted at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.

RELATEDWhy Wright-Patterson could be better positioned after the mid-term elections

The A2K and A5K are types of bombs, with the blog reporting that the Air Force is accelerating production of 2,000 and 5,000 bunker-buster bombs, with the goal of improving "penetration and overall attack performance." The A5K will have a 5,000-pound warhead.

In 2017, the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, also based at Wright-Patterson, issued a request for proposals looking for vendors to build an initial run of 1,000 munitions.

A National Interest story  published Tuesday cites "service solicitation documents," saying the A2K "shall consist of a high strength steel penetrator case and sub-components that include an aft closure plate, a fuze well, multiple fuze retaining rings, a relocated fuze arming generator adapter, and external routing of the fuze charging cable."

About the Author