500lb US bomb safely destroyed by NPA teams

Following the finding of MK82 on July 2 in A Luoi district, Thua Thien Hue province, this morning (July 3) 2019, the NPA Hue Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) Team Leader, together with the NPA Vietnam Technical Field Manager and NPA-Project RENEW’s National Technical Officer, come to the site to conduct the initial assessment on the bomb.

The bomb was identified as an MK82 500-pound general-purpose aircraft bomb containing 89 kg of high explosive.

Weighing 227kg (500-pound) and measuring 1.67m in length and 27.3cm in diametre.

Originally dropped as an unguided bomb (sometimes referred to as an ‘iron’ or ‘dumb’ bomb), early versions of the MK82 were only able to hit their target 5.5% of the time, requiring large numbers of bombs to be dropped.

The MK82 aircraft bomb has been used by the US military since the 1950s in South East Asia during the war in Vietnam.

A standard MK82 bomb body produces a lethal area of approximately 80 m (across) by 30 m (along), giving a lethal area of approximately 2,400 m2.

With the support by NPA-Project RENEW’s EOD team, the bomb was later transported to the NPA’s Control Demolition Site in Phong Dien district and safely demolished in the afternoon.

This is the ninth U.S. aircraft bomb that NPA in Thua Thien Hue Province have dealt with during the past four years. Most of them were found in A Luoi District, the site of the infamous battle of Hamburger Hill in May 1969.

A Luoi is located west in the highly mountainous area of A Shau Valley that borders Laos. During the 1968 Tet (Lunar New Year) Offensive, the A Shau Valley provided Northern Vietnamese Army troops an important shelter from which to launch attack against South Vietnamese cities and military bases, especially Hue and Phu Bai. It was one of the most bombed and shelled areas. Many mountains in the A Luoi region became historic in the mid-late 1960s during the American - Vietnam War such as the Battle of A Shau and A Bia Mountain (also known as the Hamburger Hill).

Norwegian People’s Aid (NPA) is one of the leading organizations worldwide in humanitarian disarmament. NPA has worked in Vietnam since 2008 following the signing of an MoU with the government of Quang Tri People’s Committee to support the development of Project RENEW’s Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) capacity.

NPA’s operational footprint now covers all of Quang Tri and Thua Thien Hue Provinces, with an increase of assets to four Battle Area Clearance teams, one Non-Technical Survey team, four EOD teams, and 25 Technical Survey teams./.

Photos: NPA Vietnam