E48 particulate bomb

The E48 particulate bomb was a U.S. biological sub-munition designed during the 1950s for use with the E96 cluster bomb.

In February 1950 a U.S. Army report prepared by William Creasy, a colonel within the U.S. bio-weapons program, noted that the E48 particulate bomb was in its final stages of development.^[1] Creasy also reported that the E48 had been successfully tested in three field trials.^[2]

The E48 particulate bomb was a 4-pound (2 kg) sub-munition meant to be clustered in the E38 type cluster adapter, together the E48 and E38 constituted the E96 cluster bomb.^[1] In practice, the E96 and its payload of E48 sub-munitions was intended to be air-dropped from 35,000 feet (11,000 m).^[1] The weapon could generate an elliptical aerosol agent cloud from this altitude that had major axes of 3,000 and 8,000 feet (910 and 2,440 m).^[1] Some of the agents considered for use with the E48 included, B. suis, anthrax, and botulin.^[1]

The E48 sub-munition was utilized in tests at Dugway Proving Ground in July and August 1950.^[3] The July tests released Bacillus globigii from the E48 using air-dropped cluster bombs.^[3] The August tests utilized the bacteria Serratia marcescens, and involved E48s which dispersed the agent statically, from the ground.^[3]