The Mark 84 or BLU-117 is a 2,000-pound (900kg) American general purpose aircraft bomb. It is the largest of the Mark 80 series of weapons. Entering service during the Vietnam War, it became a commonly used US heavy unguided bomb. At the time, it was the third largest bomb by weight in the US inventory behind the 15,000-pound(6,800kg) BLU-82 "Daisy Cutter" and the 3,000-pound (1,400kg) M118 "demolition" bomb. It is currently sixth in size due to the addition of the 5,000lb (2,300kg) GBU-28 in 1991, the 22,600lb (10,300kg) GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast bomb (MOAB) in 2003, the 30,000lb (14,000kg) GBU-57A/B Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP) in 2011, and the 5,000 lb GBU-72 A5K Advance Penetrator in 2021. The daisy cutter is retired in 2008.

Development and use

An aviation ordnance technician handling the bomb body of a "thermally protected" (insulated to slow cook-off time in case of fire) Mark 84 aboard the USSGeorge Washington
Sailors remove hoisting sling from a crate containing a pair of Mark 84 bomb bodies. Tailfins and fuzes have not yet been fitted

The Mark 84 has a nominal weight of 2,000lb (907kg), but its actual weight varies depending on its fin, fuze options, and retardation configuration, from 1,972 to 2,083lb (894 to 945kg). It is a streamlined steel casing filled with 945lb (429kg) of tritonal high explosive.

The Mark 84 can form a crater 50 feet (15m) wide and 36ft (11m) deep. It can penetrate up to 15 inches (38cm) of metal or 11ft (3.4m) of concrete, depending on the height from which it is dropped, and causes lethal fragmentation to a radius of 400 feet (120m).

Many Mark 84s have been retrofitted with stabilizing and retarding devices to provide precision guidance capabilities. They serve as the warhead of a variety of precision-guided munitions, including the GBU-10/GBU-24/GBU-27 Paveway laser-guided bombs, GBU-15 electro-optical bomb, GBU-31 JDAM and Quickstrike sea mines. The HGK is a Turkish guidance kit used to convert 2000-lb Mark 84 bombs into GPS/INS guided smart bombs.

According to a test report conducted by the United States Navy's Weapon System Explosives Safety Review Board (WSESRB) established in the wake of the 1967 USS Forrestal fire, the cooking off time for a Mk 84 is about 8 minutes 40 seconds.

Deployment in wars

MK 84 exploding in North Vietnam, 1972

MK 84 were used by U.S. forces in the Vietnam War, Gulf War, Iraq War, Afghanistan War, the bombing of Yugoslavia, and in the 2026 Iran War and by Israel in the 2014 Gaza War and the ongoing Gaza war.

According to a forensic investigation by Human Rights Watch, MK 84 bombs were also in the Saudi-led intervention in the Yemeni civil war.

In 2023 and 2024, the United States supplied over 14,000 Mark 84 bombs to Israel. They have been used extensively in the Gaza Strip during the Gaza war. At least one of the bombs was used in the 13 July 2024 al-Mawasi attack that killed the top commander of Hamas' military wing, Mohammed Deif, and Hamas' Khan Yunis Military Division Chief Rafa Salama and 90+ Palestinians and injured over 300.

According to the US Senator Mark Kelly, Israel used a bomb of this type in the assassination of Hassan Nasrallah, leader of Hezbollah, in Lebanon on September 27, 2024.

See also

External links

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