• This is a political forum that is non-biased/non-partisan and treats every person's position on topics equally. This debate forum is not aligned to any political party. In today's politics, many ideas are split between and even within all the political parties. Often we find ourselves agreeing on one platform but some topics break our mold. We are here to discuss them in a civil political debate. If this is your first visit to our political forums, be sure to check out the RULES. Registering for debate politics is necessary before posting. Register today to participate - it's free!

The US is Raiding its Global Bomb Stockpiles to Fight ISIS

Rogue Valley

Lead or get out of the way
DP Veteran
Joined
Apr 18, 2013
Messages
93,580
Reaction score
81,652
Location
Barsoom
Gender
Male
Political Leaning
Independent
The US is Raiding its Global Bomb Stockpiles to Fight ISIS

The anti-ISIS coalition has dropped more than 41,500 bombs, leading the Pentagon to borrow from stockpiles in other regions....


defense-large.jpg
 
Simpleχity;1065907203 said:
...The anti-ISIS coalition has dropped more than 41,500 bombs, leading the Pentagon to borrow from stockpiles in other regions....
Government has a disturbing tradition of doing this type of thing - borrowing - from all facets of its operation. Government doesn't follow budgets, anymore. This is how it gets around budget constraints (when it makes a budget). Wait for it...when is some advocate or government spokesperson going to demand the US get more bombs?
 
I'm still wondering whether the US is fighting ISIS, or supporting ISIS. More likely they are still trying to overthrow Assad, to assist Israeli interests in the region.

They give lip service to working with Russia, but it seems they come up short when it comes to actually doing so.
 
The USA is currently producing lots of bombs,it won't run out of bombs anytime soon.

This just produces more work for the military/industrial complex.

They won't be going out of business anytime soon.
 
Simpleχity;1065907203 said:
The US is Raiding its Global Bomb Stockpiles to Fight ISIS

The anti-ISIS coalition has dropped more than 41,500 bombs, leading the Pentagon to borrow from stockpiles in other regions....


defense-large.jpg

There is no shortage of US munitions. Seriously, who is feeding you misinformation regarding the sheer size and strength of the US military? Because your latest posts seem to imply you don't think it is as strong as it really is...
 
Well, like that milk in your fridge, things have code dates. It's not like bombs really "go bad", but they do get obsolete, so it's a good idea to use up the old stuff that is less advanced than the new stuff then replace it with the newest issue.
 
The USA is currently producing lots of bombs,it won't run out of bombs anytime soon.

This just produces more work for the military/industrial complex.

They won't be going out of business anytime soon.
True, but the taxpayer's may run out of money! :doh
 
Well, like that milk in your fridge, things have code dates. It's not like bombs really "go bad", but they do get obsolete, so it's a good idea to use up the old stuff that is less advanced than the new stuff then replace it with the newest issue.
Now, there's a novel approach I never even considered.

Good work there (whether it's accurate or not).
 
Well, like that milk in your fridge, things have code dates. It's not like bombs really "go bad", but they do get obsolete, so it's a good idea to use up the old stuff that is less advanced than the new stuff then replace it with the newest issue.

Actually, they do "go bad".

Most munitions have a "shelf life" of roughly 10 years. After that they need to either be pulled out of storage and checked, or destroyed.

Now the checking can vary, depending on the technology involved. As for conventional "dumb explosives", that means generally pulling out a handfull of the same lot and taking apart a few to see how the insides are holding up, then test firing a few to make sure they are still properly working. This is to make sure things like fuses still work, and that the explosives inside have not degraded in any way (seperation, clumping, etc). Most of the time those fail because of QAQC issues when originally manufactured and not detected earlier, or through improper storage.

For the more modern "smart munitions", it is much more likely. The bombs themselves rarely go bad, but the more sensitive electronics and gadgets placed on them (and things like rocket motors) do indeed go bad. Even solid rocket propellants have a much shorter shelf life than the explosive components. So an old AIM-120 may still have a perfectly functioning warhead, but seperation and clumping of the propellant means that it is no longer an effective weapon unless you drop it on somebodies head.

Having worked for years at a Naval Weapons Station, I have seen many of these steps in munitions storage. Older munitions pulled out of the bunkers to be tested, and then put back in or sent for destruction if they fail the tests and are not worth fixing. And in more recent years I have seen this with PATRIOT missiles. These have a shelf life of roughly 10 years, and after that are generally retired (because of advances in capabilities compared to older generation missiles). However, most of the "outdated" ones are not destroyed, but expended in life fire exercises.

I have seen a great many of those over the years, and never saw a single "new" (1-3 years old) missile fail to launch. But when we are expending 12-15 year old missiles, the failure rate is around 30%. And it is not in the warhead at all, but the rockets themselves. They either fail to go off, or cut out during flight.

And if you look at a lot of our more modern anti-equipment munitions, warheads themselves are starting to go away. Kinetic Kill is now the name of the game when taking out things like tanks, aircraft, and missiles. So these types of munitions do not even have warheads in them anymore.
 
Now, there's a novel approach I never even considered.

Good work there (whether it's accurate or not).

Well, it is not accurate. But this is the InterWeb, people can post whatever in the heck they feel like posting and somebody is guaranteed to believe them.
 
Well, it is not accurate. But this is the InterWeb, people can post whatever in the heck they feel like posting and somebody is guaranteed to believe them.
Yeah, but he was pretty creative there!
 
There is no shortage of US munitions. Seriously, who is feeding you misinformation regarding the sheer size and strength of the US military? Because your latest posts seem to imply you don't think it is as strong as it really is...

Plz understand something. I don't author the articles. Virtually every article I post here is authored by notable/knowledgeable persons in the DoD/military-industrial complex.

Some article content is surprising/controversial ... which is precisely why I post them.
 
So where were you when the question was asked, professor?

Errr, I was right here, and gave much more information (and correct information) than you did. I do not simply lurk around and throw out snarky comments like some apparently like to do.

And I really have absolutely no idea where you came up with the idea that munitions have no "lifespan". Everything from amunition primers to batteries eventually starts to fail once they get to a certain age. When it comes to munitions, some become almost inert. On the other hand, some do the opposite and become more unstable.

Consider earlier generations of dynamite. Once it passed a certain age the compounds started to break down, and the sticks would literally start to bleed nitroglycerine. And this residue was just as unstable as the raw liquid form was. So farmers and miners who used it only kept as much on hand as needed, and did not just store it for some unknown future need.
 
Well, it is not accurate. But this is the InterWeb, people can post whatever in the heck they feel like posting and somebody is guaranteed to believe them.

Your snark to my laymans response. Sorry Professor. I should have waited for you to post first. :roll:
 
Simpleχity;1065909276 said:
Plz understand something. I don't author the articles. Virtually every article I post here is authored by notable/knowledgeable persons in the DoD/military-industrial complex.

Some article content is surprising/controversial ... which is precisely why I post them.

Does that make you a purveyor of Pentagon Officialspeak? ;)
 
Your snark to my laymans response. Sorry Professor. I should have waited for you to post first. :roll:

No, you should have either bothered to do a little research first, given a qualifier showing it was an opinion and not fact, or simply not said anything.

You made a statement, I corrected it. As far as I am concerned, it is over. But don't feel bad, I fact check almost everybody in here from time to time, even myself. To me first and last the most important thing is accuracy in posts. I could not care less about politics, personal feelings, or anything else that really does not matter.

Your a bit late to the party.

And ask your brother what is an "Interweb".

"Interweb" is a contraction of "Internet" and "Web", and is a term I have used here quite often when refering to trolls and other dubious sorts who make uninformed or purposefully misleading posts, thinking that simply because somebody posted it that it must be right. It is used almost entirely sarcastically to show what I think of such people.

"I saw it on the Internet/Web, so it must be true!"

But if you do not like being called out and fact-checked, then I suggest you simply do your own research and not simply make things up and post them. Then you will not have individuals like myself having to correct you so that others do not go around passing incorrect information.
 
You remind me of another internet bully at another forum I belonged to that argued over a minor point to hijack the tread and make it about me.

So you did. So munitions, like people can in fact go "bad". Happy?
 
Simpleχity;1065907203 said:
The US is Raiding its Global Bomb Stockpiles to Fight ISIS

The anti-ISIS coalition has dropped more than 41,500 bombs, leading the Pentagon to borrow from stockpiles in other regions....


defense-large.jpg

This just validates the axiom you can't win a war from the air exclusively. More waste of tax payer contributions. Thanks for the lip service Obama, you clown.
 
Last edited:
You remind me of another internet bully at another forum I belonged to that argued over a minor point to hijack the tread and make it about me.

So you did. So munitions, like people can in fact go "bad". Happy?

Correcting bad info = Internet bully?

It would have been over long ago if you gracefully accepted the correction...

Here, I will model it for you:

"I stand corrected."

Done.
 
Simpleχity;1065907203 said:
The US is Raiding its Global Bomb Stockpiles to Fight ISIS

The anti-ISIS coalition has dropped more than 41,500 bombs, leading the Pentagon to borrow from stockpiles in other regions....


defense-large.jpg

Brings back memories of working night shift at Norris Industries in Vernon CA making 250 and 500lb bombs for Vietnam.
Made from sheet steel rolled into a tube, welded, and cut to length. Then heated red hot on one end and upset in dies until the nose takes shape and then turned around and shaped the tail end. Pretty automatic for its day. I can still hear the groan of the presses and the smell of burning die lube.
 
Back
Top Bottom