View source for Lob bomb

{{Short description|A type of rocket-assisted improvised explosive device}}
{{Update|date=November 2022}}
{{lead rewrite|date=November 2022}}

[[File:Propanecylinder.jpg|thumb|right|190px|Lob bombs are often made from metal propane tanks that have been drained of their fuel and filled with explosives and fragmentation material]]

A '''lob bomb''' (known officially as an '''improvised rocket-assisted mortar''',<ref name=autogenerated1>{{cite magazine| url=http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1822106,00.html | archive-url=https://archive.today/20130204075811/http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1822106,00.html | url-status=dead | archive-date=2013-02-04 | magazine=Time | title='Lob Bombs' Big Worry for US in Iraq - TIME }} </ref> '''improvised rocket-assisted munition''',<ref name="VOA">[http://www.voanews.com/english/2008-07-10-voa55.cfm VOA News – Insurgents Using New Homemade Rocket Weapon in Iraq<!-- Bot generated title -->] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080712142852/http://www.voanews.com/english/2008-07-10-voa55.cfm |date=2008-07-12 }}</ref> or '''IRAM''')<ref name=autogenerated1 /> is a [[Rocket (weapon)|rocket]]-fired [[improvised explosive device]] made from a large metal canister (often a [[propane]] gas tank that has been drained of its contents and filled with explosives, scrap metal, and [[ball bearing]]s),<ref>[http://www.democracynow.org/2008/7/11/stop_loss_a_look_at_the Democracy Now! | Stop-Loss: A Look at the US Military Policy that Creates a "Backdoor Draft" to Force Soldiers to Continue Service<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> which has been used by [[Iraqi insurgency (Iraq War)|insurgents]] as well as the Iraqi military and police during the [[Iraq War]] since late 2007,<ref name="VOA" /><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://news.google.co.uk/news/amp?caurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.independent.ie%2Fworld-news%2Fspotlight%2Fthe-massacre-of-mosul-40000-civilians-feared-dead-in-battle-to-liberate-city-from-isis-35949240.html#pt0-971666|title=Google News}}</ref><ref name="mcgyver2k" /> as well as by various forces in other conflicts. The weapon is essentially an airborne version of an [[improvised explosive device]].

==Design==
{{update section|date=November 2022}} 

Early lob bombs in Iraq were propelled by [[List of artillery by type#Rocket artillery|107 mm rockets]] and launched, several at a time, from the backs of small trucks where they could be arranged in rows,<ref name=autogenerated2>[http://www.defensereview.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=1153 Defense Review - Baghdad: Improvised Rocket-Assisted Munitions (IRAMs) Arrays Can Kill over Walls<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> sometimes by remote control (using a signal from either a cell phone, cordless phone, command wire, or other forms of remote control device).<ref name="mcgyver2k">{{Cite news|url=http://www.foxnews.com/wires/2008Jul12/0,4670,IraqEliteBombers,00.html|title= AP: 'Lob bombs' biggest worry for US in Baghdad|last=Burns|first=Robert|accessdate=March 10, 2011|date=July 12, 2008|newspaper=Fox News}}</ref> They are typically launched in an [[Arc (geometry)|arc]]ed [[Trajectory of a projectile|trajectory]], which enables them to be aimed over walls that enclose opposing bases and other military facilities, in a similar manner to a conventional [[mortar (weapon)|mortar]].<ref name=autogenerated2 /> The weapon was believed{{by who|date=November 2022}} to be highly inaccurate, and unofficial estimates place the range of lob bombs used so far as being between 50 and 150 yards (approx. 45 to 140 m).<ref>[http://www.paratrooper.net/commo/Topic261894-87-1.aspx#bm261907 Lob Bomb<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> Later, lob bombs became a prime vector for [[chemical weapon]]s, with up to 89% of [[Use of chemical weapons in the Syrian Civil War|chlorine-gas attacks]] by government forces in the [[Syrian Civil War]] being delivered by the method.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.gppi.net/2019/02/17/the-logic-of-chemical-weapons-use-in-syria|title=Nowhere to Hide: The Logic of Chemical Weapons Use in Syria|last1=Schneider|first1=Tobias|last2=Lütkefend|first2=Theresa|date=2019-02-17|website=www.gppi.net|publisher=Global Public Policy Institute|language=en-US|access-date=}}</ref>

==History==
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The type of improvised launch system and a [[rocket]] is not new to warfare. The [[Provisional Irish Republican Army]] developed a similar system during [[the Troubles]]. It was used in the [[Downing Street mortar attack|February 1991 attack on 10 Downing Street]], the London office and home of the British prime minister. 

Lob bombs were used during the [[Vietnam War]] by the VC/NVA, specifically in [[Operation Oklahoma Hills]], 1 March to 29 May 1969. Below is a part of the After Action Report by the Col. R.L Nichols, Regt CO, 7th Marines that describes this device and how it was used:

{{Quotebox|align=center|"During the period 25 April to 27 May, there were four reported incidents of the enemy employing five “Lob Bombs” against positions on Hill 55 (there were two other reported incidents occurring outside the OKLAHOMA HILLS AO during the same period.)
The first LOB BOMB spreads were directed at the rear billeting area temporarily occupied by the 3rd battalion, 26th Marines on finger 3, Hill 55 (AT973614) 252300H April 1969.  The bomb consisted of 1 250 lb low drag bomb which had been refused to utilize an NVA # 8 fuse... and propelled a distance of 600 meters from a launch site located SE of the impact area. On this occasion, a low air burst occurred resulting in a maximum fragmentation dispersion.  …Casualties from these four launches were 1 KIA and 28 WIA.
Analysis of the launch and impact craters were conducted … 14 May when a .. demonstrated… lob bomb technique showing how the propelling charge (a quart sized or number 10 can packed with explosives) was placed under the center of gravity of the projectile and detonated.
Subsequent field testing by personnel from the Division G-2 section resulted in more definitive performance parameters. The range which dud ordinance can be propelled my exceed 1000 meters and there appears to be no practical size limitation to the ordinance being propelled (a 750 lb bomb was reported being “lobbed” at an ARVN Ranger position) although the most commonly projected ordinance have been 105mm artillery duds and 250 lb low drag bombs. (A more detailed report on the construction and employment of the “lob bomb” is contained in 1st MarDiv Special Intelligence Bulletin dated 26 May 1969."<ref>Texas Tech University The Vietnam Center and Archive, Item Number: 1201051002 </ref>}}

According to U.S. military officials, lob bombs are designed to cause "catastrophic damage,"<ref name="mcgyver2k" /> and have the ability to kill "scores of soldiers" at once, more than conventional improvised explosive devices.<ref name=autogenerated2 /> the use of such devices in Iraq were first described in the international media in July 2008, when General [[Jeffery Hammond]], commander of the [[4th Infantry Division (United States)|4th Infantry Division]] and of U.S. forces in Baghdad, called the lob bomb "the greatest threat right now that we face."<ref name="mcgyver2k" /> By July 12, 2008, in 11 lob bomb attacks on American bases, three U.S. soldiers had been killed and 15 had been wounded,<ref name="VOA"/> all three deaths occurring in an April 28, 2008 attack on the U.S. [[Forward Operating Base Loyalty]] in eastern Baghdad.<ref name="mcgyver2k" /> By then, the weapon has only been encountered in Baghdad, where it was used by Shiite insurgents,<ref name="VOA"/> whose superior ability to conceal forensic evidence about their identity has been acknowledged by the U.S. military.<ref name="mcgyver2k" /> The U.S. military has found that the rockets used to propel the lob bombs have been produced in Iran, Russia, and China.<ref name="VOA" /> 

[[File:Harakat Hezbollah al-Nujaba in 2016 (24).jpg|thumb|right|Improvised rocket-assisted mortar used by Harakat Hezbollah al-Nujaba  in Saladin Governorate, Iraq]]
By 2011, it had been used as far out as the Iraq-Iran border by Iranian-backed militias to attack U.S. military installations in Iraq. These bombs have been used in Afghanistan and several other locations around the world, and some have been found in terror cell bombmaking facilities in the United States by the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation|FBI]] and [[Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives|ATF]].{{cn|date=November 2022}} One media report indicates such a munition may have been used by the Taliban to bring down a Chinook helicopter in Afghanistan on August 6, 2011.<ref>{{cite news|last=Axe|first=David|title=Did a New Taliban Weapon Kill a Chopper Full of Navy SEALs?|url=https://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2011/08/taliban-chopper-killer|accessdate=8 August 2011|newspaper=Wired.com Danger Room blog|date=8 August 2011}}</ref>

New types of IRAMs including '''Volcano rockets'''<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://syriadirect.org/news/a-new-type-of-volcano-rocket-spotted-in-idlib/|title = A new type of Volcano rocket spotted in Idlib|date = 4 June 2015}}</ref> and '''Elephant rockets''',<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1KxHpuRycU4 |title=Syrian Army Elephant Rockets Used Against Rebels - YouTube |website=[[YouTube]] |access-date=2017-03-12 |archive-date=2016-05-06 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160506021922/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1KxHpuRycU4 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2015/06/syria-douma-elephant-rockets-150617011324100.html|title='Elephant rockets' kill dozens in Damascus suburb}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1KxHpuRycU4|title = - YouTube|website = [[YouTube]]}}</ref> have been used during the Syrian Civil War by both the government and the rebels as well as by the IS forces in Syria and elsewhere. In the 2016–2017 [[Battle of Mosul (2016–2017)|Battle of Mosul]], the Iraqi interior ministry's Rapid Response Division utilized IRAMs mounted on [[Humvee]]s against IS.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://twitter.com/iraqi_day/status/843515698722865153/video/1|title=Iraqi Day 🇮🇶 on Twitter|website=Twitter|language=en|access-date=2017-03-20}}</ref>

==See also==
*[[Barrack buster]]
*[[Barrel bomb]]
*[[Explosively formed penetrator]]
*[[Improvised artillery in the Syrian Civil War]]

==References==
Texas Tech University The Vietnam Center and Archive, Item Number: 1201051002 {{reflist}}

==External links==
*[https://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080712/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_elite_bombers Associated Press article]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20080712142852/http://www.voanews.com/english/2008-07-10-voa55.cfm Voice of America article]
*[http://www.democracynow.org/2008/7/11/stop_loss_a_look_at_the Story from ''Democracy Now!'' program], July 11, 2008, video

[[Category:Improvised explosive devices]]
[[Category:2007 introductions]]
[[Category:Aerial improvised explosive device bombings|*]]