Quick JDAM question

[Skii]

chaps - what does the yellow and blue stripes on a JDAM mean, and what is the difference ?

[Dads203]

Skii,

Yellow is a live weapon ( Warshot) and blue is inert or practice.

Dan

[ElectroSoldier]

The first picture with the yellow bands means three things.

1st it means they are US Navy bombs, not USAF.

2nd it means they are live weapons

3rd it means that the bomb has a heat resistant coating to help prevent the weapons detonating in a fire

A single band of yellow [live] or blue [inert] means it is as the band denotes but it doesnt have a fire retardant coating

The Blue bands mean the weapon is not live, it is a dummy [used for looks among other things at airshows, or a training shape [used sometimes to train crews how to load it onto the jets etc]

Edited September 2, 2008 by ElectroSoldier

[Dads203]

1st it means they are US Navy bombs, not USAF.

Hi ElectroSoldier,

Yellow is universal colour for showing that any ordinance is live, not just limited to the USA,

British Hand grenades also have the yellow band if they are live weapons and a blue band for practice

Cheers

Dan

[Skii]

Thanks chaps - answers my question perfectly

[Oliver]

I think what Electro meant was this:

Yellow band = Live

Blue band = Dummy/Inert

Single band (whatever the colour) = USAF

Dual Band (whatever the colour) = USN

[Alan P]

I think he is correct Dads, the double yellow band does mean it is a live USN bomb with ablative coating.

[spike7451]

[Edited out of respect for US Forum members - John]

[Dads203]

I think he is correct Dads, the double yellow band does mean it is a live USN bomb with ablative coating.

I sit corrected, i'll be off out to thrash myself with a fir tree.

I do know that a brown band shows a live rocket motor and I think that the colour codes are a NATO standard??

Back later

Dan

[Phil]

Yellow denotes HE. As stated, double yellow band mens ablative coating. This is used by the USN because it increases the cook off time in the event of a fire.

Blue denotes training round, but not necessarily inert. As an example, BDU 33 and 48 bombs are entirely blue, but still have a phosphorous spotting charge fitted to the nose, as do most practice bombs.

We have light blue hand grenades, these contain a live fuze assembly and a small expelling charge - definitely not inert, just not HE.

Smokey SAM simulator rockets are light blue but have a brown band as they contain a very live rocket motor, but are training rounds.

[Guest Drewe]

And let's not forget that in Iraq "Blueys" have been used where they wanted the kinetic energy of a large weapon but not the destructive power of HE. 2,000lbs of steel and concrete make a big bang when it lands on you from 20,000 feet. It's just very localised!

[Mentalguru]

I'm not sure if this is "across the board," But also, one service seems to predominantly use JDMS with a smooth curved nose cone, and hte other service uses ones with pointy tips. This "may" be me reading too much into photographs.

[AnonymousDFB1]

I'm not sure if this is "across the board," But also, one service seems to predominantly use JDMS with a smooth curved nose cone, and hte other service uses ones with pointy tips. This "may" be me reading too much into photographs.

Very useful thread guys, got a build coming up that will use a couple of JDAM's

[The Velociweiler]

Yellow is High Explosive\High Effect. Since some estremely costly accidents on board US Carriers, a fire resistant coating has been applied to those rounds preferred on board carriers and the double band denotes this treatment. However, their use is not fully universal on carriers, when war stocks have been used in large volumes, in particular over the past twenty years, the supply of single banded non-fire resistant munitions to Carriers on war duty is not unknown. Also, fire retardent\resistant is NOT 'Fireproof'. Munitions are given a 'cook-off' time, the time in which a munition immersed fully in flame will be intitiated by the heat. Fire retardent munitions have a longer duration cook-off time. But they will still explode eventually....

Brown band is Low Explosive, common on missile propellants and many Artillery Munitions and their own cartridge propellants. Sea Skua missile warshots for example, possess a brown band around the propellant section.

DARK Blue, or commonly, Oxford blue, denotes DRILL, to be used for training purposes in general, but not exclusively.

AZURE Blue is, as quoted above, for practice, i.e. can be used for live fire excercises where a full effect munition is either unneccessary or undesirable. Can and have been utilised as Warshots.

PINK band, (believe it or not - really, as in Lady Penelope's Rolls Royce...) denotes telemetry round, used for trials and monitoring of live firing excercises in certain circumstances.

These are NATO standard colour codings and so will generally be universal from Scotland to Portugal to Norway to Turkey. Not necessarily the case for Soviet\Eastern Bloc supplied munitions.

[Flying Leathernecks Decals]

The US Navy and US Marine Corps has used and still uses non-thermally protected bombs when operating from shore based facilities. The thermally protected bombs are mandatory aboard carriers.

A single yellow band does not necessarily mean a USAF bomb.

*A single yellow stripe is a high explosive bomb filled with H-6 explosive compound

*Two yellow stripes is a high explosive, thermally protected bomb filled with H-6 explosive compound

*Three yellow stripes is a high explosive, thermally protected bomb filled with PBXN-109 explosive compound

Blue denotes INERT (not dummy.....believe it or not, there is a difference). Our BDU-45's, which are inert versions of the MK-82 500 lb bomb, can have an explosive smoke charge installed in the sides that give the pilot a visual of where the bomb hit.

Below is a painting chart for USMC/USN 500lb bombs that may help some of you. This is the instruction sheet for the Ordnance Data sheet we just released (and which is now sold out). If you don't have the decal sheet and want a copy of the instruction sheet in .PDF format, just send me an email at the following address:

orionmodels@aol.com

Dave

Edited September 6, 2008 by Flying Leathernecks Decals

[ElectroSoldier]

I do like that decal sheet Dave, is that also usable on USAF jets?

[Flying Leathernecks Decals]

I do like that decal sheet Dave, is that also usable on USAF jets?

Depends on how anal one is about technical accuracy. The stencils are specific to USN/USMC ordnance and the USAF only uses non-thermally protected bombs. However, they can be used for USAF bombs if you want. For the stripes, simply cut away the second and/or third rings.

Dave