Dud Rates

[The Bigfella]

I spend a bit of time in Laos and the accepted wisdom there is that 30% of the ordnance didn't explode. Given the high number of cluster bombs in that lot, it is accepted that there are 80 million unexploded devices in the country. Less than 2% of the country has been cleared. On one trip, I saw a father and his young son digging into a path beside the trail. I stopped to say G'day, realised that they were digging up an unexploded bomb.... and made a hasty departure.

 

[stona]

I think on allied raids into Germany up to 10% didnt explode, they certainly still keep finding them here.

The USSBS discovered that 16.4% of the bombs that fell within the fences of 13 synthetic oil plats attacked did not explode. Another way of looking at it is that 1 in 6 of the bombers might as well have flown empty.

An analysis of the bombing at Ploesti revealed only 5.5% of duds, but of that 3.8% were due to human error. The crews had simply failed to arm their bombs. This error was not random, but entire strings of bombs, that is entire loads from individual aircraft, had not been properly armed. 1 in 25 US bombers had accidentally disarmed themselves.

Human error could not be a cause for RAF bombs as the bomb bays were not accessible and the safety wires were removed before take off. There is no reason to expect the RAF's overall percentage of duds to be different as both air forces were largely using the same HE bombs in the latter stages of the war.

Cheers

Steve

 

[parsifal]

dud rates vary according to year of manufacture, country of manufacture, factory source, and of course bomb types. weather conditions can affect detonatio rates as can humidity levels

i know some details about cluster bombs. IDF reports estimate dud rates for their anti-personnel cluster ordinance to be 14% in the typical conditions of their area of operations

Even though cluster bombs are designed to explode prior to or on impact, there are always some individual submunitions that do not explode on impact. The US-made MLRS with M26 warhead and M77 submunitions are supposed to have a 5% dud rate but studies have shown that some have a much higher rate. The rate in acceptance tests prior to the Gulf War for this type ranged from 2% to a high of 23% for rockets cooled to −25 °F (−32 °C) before testing. The M483A1 DPICM artillery-delivered cluster bombs have a reported dud rate of 14%.

 

[kettbo]

I can tell you that every round of 25mm HE that I fired on hulks at Grafenwohr exploded. All 30 rounds! Familiarization Fire is what it was called, the reality was 'shoot the oldest lot' before it has to be turned in for disposal. We seldom fired 'live HE' due to 'dudding' a new area, making that area unsafe for maneuver. HE was fired it at special ranges, permanent impact areas. Old TOW missiles would do strange things on the range from time to time.