Watch The Navy Blow Up Pretty Much Everything On Its China Lake Weapons Range

Watch The Navy Blow Up Pretty Much Everything On Its China Lake Weapons Range

https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zo...ch-everything-on-its-china-lake-weapons-range

[video=youtube;_dN1SeHA15E]https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=_dN1SeHA15E[/video]

That was pretty cool, thanks for the link.

A nice way to enjoy breakfast and watching stuff get blown up! Thanks, Winston.

Winston said:

Watch The Navy Blow Up Pretty Much Everything On Its China Lake Weapons Range

https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zo...ch-everything-on-its-china-lake-weapons-range

[video=youtube;_dN1SeHA15E]https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=_dN1SeHA15E[/video]

Click to expand...

tightwad said:

A nice way to enjoy breakfast and watching stuff get blown up! Thanks, Winston.

Click to expand...

You're welcome. For breakfast tomorrow. It's easy to understand why the most popular Mythbuster episodes involved explosives.

Operation Dominic - Housatonic

30 October 1962
Johnston Island, Johnston Atoll
HOB - 3,700 m (12,100 ft)
Air drop, weapons development
Device: Ripple II
Yield: 8.3 Mt

The final nuclear weapon airdrop by the U.S. The device tested was a Ripple II in a Mk-36 drop case, and it was delivered with near-perfect accuracy (bombing error less than 100 feet). This was a repeat of the failed Androscoggin and was spectacularly successful, resulting in the highest yield of the Dominic test series. The yield-to-weight ratio was 2.56 kt/kg (1.1 kt/lb).

[video=youtube;L_jFQw78uzo]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L_jFQw78uzo[/video]

[video=youtube;yR-dhPJd_WY]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yR-dhPJd_WY[/video]

The MUCH smaller yield (15kt) but very impressive fireball from the REALLY STUPID weapon considering it size and time to set up, the M65 Atomic Cannon. New and highly destructive effects were discovered due to this very test.

[video=youtube;dflLFFZcZ0w]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dflLFFZcZ0w[/video]

One thing that confused me a little in the original video: the shots targeting radar installations didn't appear to have explosive warheads. The radar dishes themselves were pretty well destroyed, but the trucks seemed mostly intact. The radar is definitely the expensive part to repair/replace* but it seems like it would be worth it to blow up the whole shebang. Anyone know why they didn't?

* In a similar vein, I've designed boats that cost $500K that had $1M of sonar electronics slung underneath.

boatgeek said:

One thing that confused me a little in the original video: the shots targeting radar installations didn't appear to have explosive warheads. The radar dishes themselves were pretty well destroyed, but the trucks seemed mostly intact. The radar is definitely the expensive part to repair/replace* but it seems like it would be worth it to blow up the whole shebang. Anyone know why they didn't?

* In a similar vein, I've designed boats that cost $500K that had $1M of sonar electronics slung underneath.

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If it's a practice round there's no need to blow up the whole shebang as long as you prove you can hit the target. Everything that's blown up has to be cleaned up and replaced for the next shot right?
In a war situation taking out the radar antenna but leaving the rest of the tech intact for capture and study might have value.
These answers are just guesses.

Steve Shannon said:

If it's a practice round there's no need to blow up the whole shebang as long as you prove you can hit the target. Everything that's blown up has to be cleaned up and replaced for the next shot right?
In a war situation taking out the radar antenna but leaving the rest of the tech intact for capture and study might have value.
These answers are just guesses.

Click to expand...

Practice rounds are typically much less expensive than combat munitions.