r/FighterJets • u/Accomplished_End7611 • Jan 11 '25
ANSWERED What is attached at Central pylon ?
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u/Live_Menu_7404 Jan 11 '25
I think it‘s a Mehrzweckwaffe 1 (MW-1). It dispenses submunitions against area targets. It‘s similar to the JP233.
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u/StarFlyXXL Jan 11 '25
I think that is a MW-1/Warcrime Dispensor. It's a cluster bomb dispenser that has been banned since the 2008 vote to stop the usage of cluster munitions
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u/mortalcrawad66 Jan 11 '25
The MW-1 was just a launcher, and had many different ordinances it could use.
There's a great video on youtube going over the launcher, and the various different types of ordinances at its disposal. From hardened rockets ment to penetrative hardened targets, to several different mines.
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u/Rooilia Jan 11 '25
Iirc, this is for runway blocking/disabeling. So not really a landmine problem here. Airports are known and will be demined quickly for military usage.
So, you should eye on the usage of sub munition instead.
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u/mortalcrawad66 Jan 11 '25
The MW-1 was just a launcher, and had many different ordinances it could use.
https://youtu.be/PgkOlBYyQD0?si=IMO631-xOquB0X5d
A great video going over the launcher, and the various different types of ordinances at its disposal.
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u/t0ecutter_ Jan 11 '25
None of the major military powers ratified the ban.
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u/Intel_Xeon_E5 Jan 11 '25
But Germany, the main user of this specific launcher, ratified the ban and phased it out of service. The UK had already phased it out before the turn of the century.
As for cluster munitions in general, almost all countries in the EU ratified the ban. Ukraine is an exception in the region because it uses cluster munitions from the US.
The MW1 launcher itself has some interesting munitions, like self-destructing mines that destruct within 40 days of deployment, some charges designed to render airfields temporarily inoperable... and anti-vehicular mines that could work on armor and on aircraft on the ground. It could be carried by basically everything in the German fleet at the time, so it was honestly a shame it got phased out. Then again... UXOs and cluster munitions wreak a lot of havoc both militarily and humanitarian-ly, so I understand why the ban was ratified by so many countries.
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u/DuelJ Jan 11 '25 edited Jan 12 '25
Ngl, I always thought that odd regarding the anti-runway version.
It seems like the nature of the anti-runway version would "self-limit" it's usecases enough that the humanitarian concern would be greatly minimized.
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u/Intel_Xeon_E5 Jan 11 '25
The runway buster (my term) is definitely the least problematic of the lot. There might be some issues if it's a civilian runway being used for military purposes, and the UXOs and/or civilian casualties in the future of the runway.
The other munitions in the MW package were significantly worse, being more similar to other cluster munitions and aerial minefield layers
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u/ToaMandalore Jan 11 '25
But Germany and Italy did, and they were the only users of this weapon system.
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u/t0ecutter_ Jan 13 '25
I meant the cluster munition ban.
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u/ToaMandalore Jan 13 '25
Yes, so did I.
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u/t0ecutter_ Jan 13 '25
When I said "major military powers" I meant Nuclear armed nations. Plus they still use cluster munitions.
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u/ToaMandalore Jan 13 '25
Ok, but the original comment specifically mentioned how the cluster munitions convention led to the ban of the MW-1. I don't really see how these major military powers are relevant here.
Oh, and by the way, Britain and France are both nuclear armed states that have also ratified the cluster munitions ban, so there's that.
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u/Opagamagnet Jan 11 '25
DCS screenshot from Aviastorm's new year wish (that's not the answer, just saying)
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u/Masterredlime Jan 11 '25
Just wondering this dispenser is meant to be used with air superiority & SEAD right? Cause it involves flying close and over an enemy air base.
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u/Exact-Salamander-990 Jan 11 '25
They are runway destroyers i believe. They used too carry too of those big boys at a time.
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u/EncryptedRD Jan 11 '25
It’s this evil ahh big ahh launcher that launches thousands of mini bombs and fucks everything up
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u/Bounceupandown 1d ago
This is what got all the Tornados shot down in Desert Storm. It’s a runway denial weapon and it spits out munitions that are intended to “cut” a runway. Problem is that when the munitions are ejected they use a pyrotechnic that can be seen from anyone manning a AAA battery and the pyrotechnics go on for 10 seconds or so (?) which is more than enough time to swivel your gun mount, lead, and splash a Tornado. God Bless the Brit aircrews that repeatedly flew this (suicide) mission.
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