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38-678: The BLU-109/B is a hardened bunker buster penetration bomb used by the United States Air Force ( BLU is an acronym for Bomb Live Unit ). As with other "bunker busters", it is intended to penetrate concrete shelters and other hardened structures before exploding. In addition to the US, it is part of the armament of the air forces of Australia , Belgium , Canada , Denmark , France , Germany , Greece , Italy , Israel , Netherlands , Norway , Pakistan , Saudi Arabia , United Kingdom , and United Arab Emirates . The BLU-109/B has

76-548: A built-in metal auger (spiral plunger). In these models, the actual top may be enclosed in a hollow metal shell, with the same axis but decoupled from it; so that the toy may appear to be stationary but "magically" balanced on its tip. Some modern tops are kept perpetually in motion by spinning magnetic fields from a special ground plate. Gould classifies tops into six main types: twirler, supported top, peg-top, whip-top, buzzer , and yo-yo . Modern tops have several sophisticated improvements, such as ball bearings of ruby or

114-497: A bunker. The KFIs evolved out of the earlier Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program by Exquadrum, Inc. of Adelanto , California. The BLU-109 has been sold to key US allies including South Korea, Israel, Greece, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Pakistan, and Turkey In late 2023, the United States delivered 100 BLU-109 bombs to Israel. Israeli F-15I fighter jets are believed to have used BLU-109s with JDAM guidance kits in

152-479: A carved wooden top from approximately 2000 BCE was discovered in Tutankhamun's tomb . Tops were used as toys in ancient Rome . Besides toys, tops have also historically been used for gambling and prophecy . Some role-playing games use tops to augment dice in generating randomized results; it is in this case referred to as a spinner. Gould mentions maple seeds , celts (leading to rattlebacks ),

190-404: A deeply buried bunker. The extra speed provided by a rocket motor enables greater penetration of a missile-mounted bunker buster warhead. To reach maximum penetration ( impact depth ), the warhead may consist of a high-density projectile only. Such a warhead carries more energy than a warhead with chemical explosives (kinetic energy of a projectile at hypervelocity ). The nuclear bunker buster

228-809: A few seconds, spin upright for a while, then start to wobble again with increasing amplitude as it loses energy, and finally tip over and roll on its side. Tops exist in many variations and materials, chiefly wood , metal , and plastic , often with a metal tip. They may be set in motion by twirling a handle with the fingers, by pulling a rope coiled around the body, or through a built-in auger (spiral plunger). Such toys have been used since antiquity in solitary or competitive games , where each player tries to keep one's top spinning for as long as possible or achieve some other goal. Some tops have faceted bodies with symbols or inscriptions, and are used like dice to inject randomness into games or for divination and ritual purposes. The ubiquity of spinning tops lends to

266-402: A hard ceramic like tungsten carbide , that reduces the friction with the ground surface. Functional art tops have become collectibles built using varied techniques in metal-working, glass-working, and wood-working. The motion of a top is described by equations of rigid body dynamics , specifically the theory of rotating rigid bodies . Because of the small contact area between the tip and

304-428: A larger fraction of its energy into the ground, compared to an explosion at or above the surface which releases most of its energy into the atmosphere. Spinning top A spinning top , or simply a top , is a toy with a squat body and a sharp point at the bottom, designed to be spun on its vertical axis , balancing on the tip due to the gyroscopic effect . Once set in motion, a top will usually wobble for

342-522: A reported strike accuracy of 7 m (23 ft) CEP . The US has a series of custom made bombs such as the Paveway series of laser-guided bombs to penetrate hardened or deeply buried structures: More recently, the US has developed the 30,000 lb (14,000 kg) GBU-57 . Turkey is another country known to be developing bunker busters, such as the SARB-83 and NEB-84. The traditional fuze

380-423: A standard, air-burst nuclear detonation because they would have relatively low explosive yield . However, because such weapons necessarily come into contact with large amounts of earth-based debris, they may, under certain circumstances, still generate significant fallout. Warhead yield and weapon design have changed periodically throughout the history of the design of such weapons. An underground explosion releases

418-522: A steel casing about 1 inch (25 mm) thick. Its warhead is filled with 550 pounds (250 kg) of tritonal . It has a mechanical-electrical delayed-action FMU-143 tail- fuze . The BLU-109 entered service in 1985 . It is also used as the warhead of some marks of the GBU-15 electro-optically guided bomb , the GBU-24 Paveway III and GBU-27 Paveway III laser-guided bombs , as well as

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456-401: Is the nuclear weapon version of the bunker buster. The non-nuclear component of the weapon is designed to greatly enhance the penetration into soil , rock , or concrete to deliver a nuclear warhead to a target. These weapons would be used to destroy hardened, underground military bunkers deeply buried. In theory, the amount of radioactive nuclear fallout would be reduced from that of

494-412: Is the same as a classic armor-piercing bomb : a combination of timer and a sturdy dynamic propeller on the rear of the bomb. The fuze is armed when the bomb is released, and detonates when the propeller stops turning and the timer has expired. Modern bunker busters may use a traditional fuze, but some also include a microphone and microcontroller . The microphone listens, and the microcontroller counts

532-634: The Luftwaffe developed a series of unguided rocket-propelled armor-piercing bombs for use against shipping and fortifications. In World War II , the British designer Barnes Wallis , already famous for inventing the bouncing bomb , designed two bombs that would become the conceptual predecessors of modern bunker busters: the five tonne Tallboy and the ten tonne Grand Slam . These were "Earthquake" bombs —a concept he had first proposed in 1939. The designs were very aerodynamic, allowing them to exceed

570-470: The fire-drill , the spindle whorl , and the potter's wheel as possible predecessors to the top, which he assumes was invented or discovered multiple times in multiple places. A top may be used to demonstrate visual properties, such as by James David Forbes and James Clerk Maxwell in Maxwell's disc (see color triangle ). By rapidly spinning the top, Forbes created the illusion of a single color that

608-575: The strikes that killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut on 27 September 2024. Bunker buster Röchling shells were bunker-busting artillery shells, developed by the German engineer August Coenders , based on the theory of increasing sectional density to improve penetration. They were tested in 1942 and 1943 against the Belgian Fort d'Aubin-Neufchâteau . In World War II

646-408: The "sleep" period, and only in it, provided it is ever reached, less friction means longer "sleep" time (whence the common error that less friction implies longer global spinning time). The total spinning time of a top is generally increased by increasing its moment of inertia and lowering its center of gravity . These variables however are constrained by the need to prevent the body from touching

684-640: The GBU-31 Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) and AGM-130 air-to-surface missile . The BLU-118 is reportedly a thermobaric explosive filler variation on the BLU-109 casing and basic bomb design. It contains PBXIH-135, a traditional explosive. In 2015 General Dynamics started a $ 7.2 million development of a version called HAMMER, which is intended to destroy chemical and biological substances by spreading dozens of Kinetic Fireballs Incendiaries (KFI) (not explosions) inside

722-675: The Tallboy to create the Tarzon , a 12,000 lb (5,400 kg) bomb deployed in the Korean War against an underground command center near Kanggye . The BLU-109 bomb is intended to penetrate concrete shelters and other hardened structures before exploding. It entered service in 1985. Israeli F-15I fighter jets are believed to have used BLU-109s in the strikes that killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut on 27 September 2024. During Operation Desert Storm (1991), there

760-608: The best current penetration specifications. The British Disney bomb (officially "4500 lb [2,000 kg] Concrete piercing/Rocket Assisted Bomb", also known as the "Crab") was a World War II device designed to be used against U-boat pens and other super-hardened targets. Devised by Captain Edward Terrell RNVR of the Admiralty's Directorate of Miscellaneous Weapons Development , it had a streamlined hardened case and weighed about 4,500 lb (2,000 kg) including

798-434: The body. The rope is best wound starting near the tip and progressing up along the widening body, so that the tension of the string will remain roughly constant while the top's angular speed increases. These tops may be thrown forward while firmly grasping the end of the string and pulling it back. The forward momentum of the top contributes to the string's tension and thus to the final spin rate. In some throwing styles,

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836-406: The bomb's speed, giving a final impact speed of 1,450 ft/s (440 m/s; 990 mph), approximately Mach 1.29. Post-war tests demonstrated that the bombs were able to penetrate a 14-foot-8-inch (4.47 m) thick concrete roof, with the predicted (but untested) ability to penetrate 16 feet 8 inches (5.08 m) of concrete. Post war, the US added a form of remote guidance to

874-532: The fact that the toy is used to name many living things such as Cyclosa turbinata , whose name comes from the Latin roots for spinning top. Spinning tops emerged independently in various cultures worldwide and are considered among the oldest known toys discovered by archaeologists. They have been unearthed on every continent except Antarctica. For instance, tops dating back to around 1250 BCE were found in China, while

912-404: The fictional Depression-era American city of Hohman, Indiana. The bully and the named top in the title are challenged by Shepherd's ongoing protagonist Ralph and a so-called "gypsy top" of similar design to Mariah named Wolf. The Top is a short story by bohemian writer Franz Kafka . Rock band The Cure released The Top album in 1984, named, and at least partially inspired, by the toy of

950-408: The friction increases the time needed to reach this stable state (unless the top is so unbalanced that it falls over before reaching it). After spinning upright (in the so-called "sleep" position) for an extended period, the angular momentum will gradually lessen (mainly due to friction), leading to ever increasing precession , finally causing the top to topple and roll some distance on its side. In

988-633: The ground. Asymmetric tops of virtually any shape can also be created and designed to balance. There are many official competitions for top spinning as a sport, such as the U. S. National Championships and the World Championships. During the COVID-19 pandemic contests would be often held online, with contestants submitting videos. The Jean Shepherd story "Scut Farkas and the Murderous Mariah" revolves around top-spinning in

1026-409: The ground. Though these bombs might be thought of as "bunker busters" today, in fact the original "earthquake" theory was more complex and subtle than simply penetrating a hardened surface. The earthquake bombs were designed not to strike a target directly, but to impact beside it, penetrate under it, and create a ' camouflet ', or large buried cavern, at the same time as delivering a shock wave through

1064-576: The number of floors until the bomb breaks through the desired numbers of floors. Northrop Grumman is working on the Hard Target Void Sensing Fuze (HTVSF), an electronic, cockpit programmable, fuze capable of destroying deeply buried and targets. It provides multiple delay arming and detonation times, as well as a void-sensing capability, which allows for precision activation of the fuze for 2,000-and-5,000-pound (910 and 2,270 kg) weapons to explode when they reach an open space in

1102-409: The ratios of the primaries, choosing vermilion , emerald , and ultramarine . Smaller tops have a short stem, and are set in motion by twirling it using the fingers. A thumbtack may also be made to spin on its tip in the same way. A typical fist-sized model, traditionally made of wood with a blunt iron tip, is meant to be set in motion by briskly pulling a string or rope tightly coiled around

1140-450: The rocket assembly. The actual explosive content was about 500 lb (230 kg). For accuracy, the bombs had to be dropped precisely from a pre-determined height (usually 20,000 ft (6,100 m)). They would free-fall for around 30 seconds until, at 5,000 ft (1,500 m), the rockets were ignited, causing the tail section to be expelled. The rocket burn lasted for three seconds and added 300 ft/s (91 m/s) to

1178-438: The same name. The album includes the title track in which the sound of a spinning top can be heard at the beginning of the song. The top is a focal element and metaphysical symbol in the movie Inception (2010), directed by Christopher Nolan and starring Leonardo DiCaprio . In the final shot, the camera moves over the spinning top just before it appears to be wobbling. In 2022, an Armenian-styled  spinning top, with

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1216-432: The speed of sound as they fell from 22,000 ft (6,700 m). The tails were designed with offset fins causing the bombs to spin as they fell. Using the same principle as a spinning top , this enabled them to resist being deflected, thereby improving accuracy. They had casings of high grade steel, much stronger than the typical World War II bomb so that they would survive hitting a hardened surface, or penetrate deep into

1254-496: The target's foundations. The target then collapses into the hole, no matter how hardened it may be. The bombs had strong casings because they needed to travel through rock rather than reinforced concrete, though they could perform equally well against hardened surfaces. In an attack on the Valentin U-Boat pens at Farge , two Grand Slams went through the 15 ft (4.5 m) reinforced concrete hardening —equalling or exceeding

1292-419: The top is thrown upside-down, but the first loop of the rope is wound around a stubby "head". Then, the sudden yank on the head as the string finishes unwinding causes the spinning top to flip over and land on its tip. Alternatively, tops of this class may be started by hand but then accelerated and kept in motion by striking them repeatedly with a small whip . Some larger models are set in motion by means of

1330-511: The underlying surface, and the large rotational inertia of its body, a top that is started on a hard surface will usually keep spinning for tens of seconds or more, even without additional energy input. Typically the top will at first wobble until friction and torque between the tip and the underlying surface force it to spin with the axis steady and upright. Contrary to what is sometimes assumed, longstanding scientific studies (and easy experimentations reproducible by anyone) show that reducing

1368-399: Was a mixture of the primaries: [The] experiments of Professor J. D. Forbes, which I witnessed in 1849… [established] that blue and yellow do not make green, but a pinkish tint, when neither prevails in the combination…[and the] result of mixing yellow and blue was, I believe, not previously known. Maxwell took this a step further by using a circular scale around the rim with which to measure

1406-486: Was a need for a deep penetration bomb similar to the British weapons of World War II, but none of the NATO air forces had such a weapon. As a stop-gap, some were developed over a period of 28 days, using old 8 inch (203 mm) artillery barrels as casings. These bombs weighed over two tons but carried only 647 lb (293 kg) of high explosive. They were laser-guided and were designated "Guided Bomb Unit-28 ( GBU-28 )". It

1444-571: Was proven effective for the intended role. An example of a Russian bunker buster is the KAB-1500L-Pr. It is delivered with the Su-24M and the Su-34 aircraft. It is stated to be able to penetrate 10–20 m of earth or 2 m of reinforced concrete. The bomb weighs 1,500 kg (3,300 lb), with 1,100 kg (2,400 lb) being the high explosive penetrating warhead. It is laser guided and has

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