The E48 particulate bomb was a U.S. biological sub-munition designed during the 1950s for use with the E96 cluster bomb.

History

In February 1950 a U.S. Army report prepared by William Creasy, a colonel within the U.S. bio-weapons program, noted that the E48 particulate bomb was in its final stages of development.[1] Creasy also reported that the E48 had been successfully tested in three field trials.[2]

Specifications

The E48 particulate bomb was a 4-pound (2 kg) sub-munition meant to be clustered in the E38 type cluster adapter, together the E48 and E38 constituted the E96 cluster bomb.[1] In practice, the E96 and its payload of E48 sub-munitions was intended to be air-dropped from 35,000 feet (11,000 m).[1] The weapon could generate an elliptical aerosol agent cloud from this altitude that had major axes of 3,000 and 8,000 feet (910 and 2,440 m).[1] Some of the agents considered for use with the E48 included, B. suis, anthrax, and botulin.[1]

Tests involving the E48

The E48 sub-munition was utilized in tests at Dugway Proving Ground in July and August 1950.[3] The July tests released Bacillus globigii from the E48 using air-dropped cluster bombs.[3] The August tests utilized the bacteria Serratia marcescens, and involved E48s which dispersed the agent statically, from the ground.[3]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Whitby, Simon. Biological Warfare Against Crops, (Google Books), Macmillan, 2002, pp. 106-07, (ISBN 0333920856).
  2. ^ Endicott, Stephen and Hagerman, Edward. The United States and Biological Warfare: Secrets from the Early Cold War and Korea, (Google Books), Indiana University Press, 1998, pp. 67-68, (ISBN 0253334721).
  3. ^ a b c Subcommittee on Zinc Cadmium Sulfide, U.S. National Research Council. Toxicologic Assessment of the Army's Zinc Cadmium Sulfide Dispersion, (Google Books), National Academies Press, 1997, pp. 285-88, (ISBN 0309057833).
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