French modular bomb

[xena]

Hi Folks.

In a list in Jane's Weapon Systems of 1982 there is a modular bomb of French origin. But this is all I know about. It is said, that it divides in three independant bombs when droped. That's all I could find out. No pictures, no further information. Does anybody know more about this bomb?

 

[fortrena]

That bomb?

You may wish to note that the translation of the text is not perfect. Instead of calibrated flakes, for example, calibrated fragments might make more sense.

 

[xena]

Thank you very much.

 

[H_K]

@xena Yes it’s the Brandt BM-400 modular bomb, later known as Cascad Mk1 (Mk2 was a stand-off variant with a rocket and guidance unit).

Length: 3.2m
Body diameter: 320mm
Weight: 390kg
Warhead, pcs: 3x 90kg modules
Distance between hooks: 355.6mm
Minimum height of use: 80m

Here it is on a Mirage 2000… don’t think it ever entered service anywhere. The 3x 90kg modules could be optimized for various roles:

Fragmentation (2 variants)
SMAP submunitions (anti-runway) - similar to BAP 100
SMABL submunitions (anti-armor) - similar to BAT 120

Here is the rocket powered Cascad Mk2:

 

[xena]

This helps a lot. Thank you. BTW, are there informations about the submunition of Cascade Mk.2?

 

[H_K]

This helps a lot. Thank you. BTW, are there informations about the submunition of Cascade Mk.2?

The payload options were:

12 SMAP anti-runway submunitions (3x4)
23-24kg each, 1m length x 110mm diameter. Each could penetrate 30cm concrete and damage 30m2 - this seems similar to BAP-100 but smaller?

12 SMABL anti-armor submunitions
20kg each, 67cm length x 114mm diameter, each with 500 fragments

3 fragmentation modules, each with 800 fragments able to penetrate 17mm steel at 50m or 12mm at 100m

3 fragmentation modules each with 1500 fragments able to penetrate 12mm steel at 50m or 7mm at 100m

The BM 400 / Cascad Mk1 could be launched at up to 5km range with toss-bombing. The Cascad Mk2’s range under similar conditions was extended to 10km thanks to the small rocket booster. Each bomb with 3 fragmentation modules was designed to saturate an area of up to 600x200m.

It is not clear if development of all these options was ever completed due to end of the Cold War.

 

[xena]

Didn't realise that BM-400 and Cascade are the same thing. Many thanks for all the information.

 

[XtraSaltee]

Wasn't the bomb made of separate smaller ones? I know the prototype contained something ffars or havrs or something similar.