From Livermore to Gaza: the DIME

23Jan09

In early January, Norwegian doctors working at Shifa Hospital in the Gaza strip began noticing that survivors of Israeli attacks were suffering odd patterns of massive amputations and shredded soft tissue and bones, but without tell-tale signs of shrapnel penetrations.   They reported to the UN and outside agencies that they believed the injuries were caused by a very new class of weapons known as DIME, short for “dense Inert Metal Explosives.”   Dr. Mads Gilbert told outside media that:

 

“This is a new generation of very powerful small explosives that detonates with an extreme power and dissipates its power within a range of five to 10 meters (16-98 feet),” said Gilbert.

“We have not seen the casualties affected directly by the bomb because they are normally torn to pieces and do not survive, but we have seen a number of very brutal amputations… without shrapnel injuries which we strongly suspect must have been caused by the DIME weapons,” he added.

The weapon “causes the tissue to be torn from the flesh. It looks very different (from a shrapnel injury). I have seen and treated a lot of different injuries for the last 30 years in different war zones, and this looks completely different.  If you are in the immediate (vicinity of) a DIME weapon, it’s like your legs get torn off. It’s an enormous pressure wave and there is no shrapnel.”

 

DIME weapons use a carbon fiber casing that turns to dust upon detonation so that no large pieces of shrapnel are generated, as with conventional metal-encased bombs. Instead, DIME munitions contain a powder consisting of a dense alloy of tungsten with small amounts of nickel and either cobalt or iron. Tungsten is used because it is chemically inert and does not become part of the explosive reaction..  However, military scientists acknowledged in a 2005 study that the powderized tungsten was highly carcinogenic.  So much so, that of the lab rats implanted with the tungsten alloy pellets, 100% developed tumors for both low-dose and high dose tungsten alloy groups.  What the researchers call “tumor yield” was 100% in both the low- and high-dose tungsten alloy groups. All of the rats implanted with tungsten alloy acquired a relatively rare cancer of the skeletal muscle cells called rhabdomyosarcoma that quickly spread to the animals’ lungs.

The researchers also observed significant changes in the blood of the high-dose tungsten alloy-implanted rats that indicated polycythemia, a surplus of red blood cells. The blood changes take place as early as one month after the rats received the tungsten alloy implants, well before any signs of a tumor.

 

Livermore’s role

 

The DIME munition is an all-American design.  Simple research dislcoses that it was developed as a partnership between the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) and the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) based right out here in sunny California.  According to various sources, the DIME was developed as a “focused lethality munition” intended to maximize damage at the point of impact but produce little or no high blast effect or shrapnal damage at longer ranges.  According to the GlobalSecurty website:

 

AFRL is currently utilizing high-fidelity physics-based simulations to aid in the design and testing of low-collateral-damage (LCD) munitions. LCD munitions will benefit the warfighter during urban conflicts where standard munitions would inflict unacceptable collateral damage levels. AFRL partnered with Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory to employ a physics-based code in the design and evaluation of the munitions, which are based on a dense inert metal explosive (DIME) technology. The code requires a DIME-specific multiphase flow capability to accurately simulate the DIME-type munitions. The laboratory is continually validating this new capability as the program progresses.

 

The Air Force and LLNL are proud of their work on the DIME, since it is considered a”low collateral damage” weapon which makes it suitable for densly populated urban environments – such as Gaza.  Of course, the “collateral damage” element really doesn’t apply if the immediate target point includes civilians.  Weapons such as DIME, combined with state-of-the-art guided missiles and bombs, opens new vistas for the US and Israeli military to use large munitions in urban areas with impunity.

 

“Servicing targets” in Gaza

 

Boeing Corporation won the contract in the US for production of the GBU-39, or “Small Diameter Bomb”, not because it is particularly small, but because it uses DIME technology to create a small collateral “footprint.”  The first weapons were delivered in 2006 and immediately employed in Iraq.   Here is some Air Force commentary in a trade jounal, Precision Strike (no, I do not subscribe):

 

“The SDB is a very precise coordinate- seeking weapon,” said Lt. Col. Mark Pierce, deputy chief of the ACC Advanced Weapons Requirements Branch. “Because of its precision, it doesn’t have to carry a lot of explosive material to achieve weapons effects against the specified target. Therefore, targets can be serviced without the excessive blast and fragmentation of a larger weapon. The result should be less collateral damage.”

 

Furthermore, its small size enables aircraft to carry more weapons, allowing commanders “to service more targets on a single pass.” Its mounting carriage, the BRU-61/A, fits four bombs on one weapon pylon.  It is also a versatile weapon. The SDB range is more than 50 nautical miles when launched at 40,000 feet at Mach .95. This enables an aircraft to launch SDBs to multiple targets, while beyond the range of many anti-aircraft systems. Additionally, it is an all-weather weapon, effective day or night and can be fired at targets in front of, to the sides, and behind the employing aircraft. It is effective on stationary targets within 1.2 meters. Typical targets include hardened aircraft bunkers, early-warning radar, stationary SCUD missile launchers, stationary artillery and more, said Colonel Pierce.

 

The Israelis apparently signed up, since they had a lot of targets to “service” in Gaza.

This is a serious issue, folks.  Once again, the dazzlers at Lawrence Livermore are showing their adaptability in developing their weaponeering skills beyond just your garden variety nuclear weapons.  This new weapons has international health implications, but beyond that, it has elevated urban warfare to new highs – or lows, as the case may be.

 

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