B-52 attrition rates?

"Dave Kearton" wrote in
message ...
"BUFDRVR" wrote in message
...
| The Enlightenment wrote:
|
| Did the rudder and horizontal elevators continue to opperate after
that?
|
| Yep. They recovered without further incident.
|
| Was it a direct hit or was it a proximity
| fused detonation?
|
| I'm not sure. It took well over three years before all the pieces were
put
| togather. IIRC, it was thought to have been a MANPAD when it initially
| happened. Before you ask; no, I have no idea how they finally determined
it was
| a HARM.
|
|
| BUFDRVR
|


I'll go out on a limb here .....

From what I recall of a Discovery Channel docco (which is a complete
authority level higher than Disney) Harm was intended as an airburst
weapon. Not intended to explode on contact with the transmitter, but
30-50m above it, ensuring that the blast and fragments from a near miss
would fill the antennae full of holes and disrupt the comms equipment
underneath.

The fragmentation pattern, as well as the fragments themselves would be a
fairly reliable signature - compared to the expanded rods that you would
expect to see on an air-to-air or ground-to-air weapon.



Thanks Bufdrvr and Dave,

The Warhead is a framentation type with cubes of tungsten to penetrate
lightly armoured vehicles. The proximity fuse is an active laser.