Designed to be dropped from low altitudes, the bomb's fall is slowed by a parachute. The maximum release speed is and the minimum release altitude is. When the bomb has reached a 40° angle due to the parachute's drag, it fires a rocket booster that accelerates it into the runway surface. The primary charge explodes once the weapon has penetrated the concrete and drives the secondary charge even deeper. The secondary charge then explodes after a one-second delay. Later production weapons have a programmable fuze that can delay the secondary detonation up to several hours. The weapon can penetrate up to of concrete, and creates a crater deep and approximately in diameter. In addition, concrete slabs around the crater are disturbed in an area approximately in diameter. The disturbed slabs are displaced up to above the original surface, making repair more difficult than the simple crater from a conventional bomb.
Service history
There is a persistent story that the first use of the current Matra Durandal was by Israeli Mirages during the Six-Day War. This is inaccurate as this war in 1967 took place ten years before the Durandal was first available on the arms market. Rather, the prototype French/Israeli anti-runway weapon program which actually cratered Egyptian runways in 1967 is related but distinct from the Durandal. The Israeli weapon used rocket rather than parachute braking over the target. The Matra development branch which was in development from 1971 on and would form the basis for the Durandal which uses parachute braking. The Durandal was adopted by the US in a slightly modified form as the BLU-107/B in the 1980s, and carried by F-111 and F-15E strike aircraft. In addition, the Durandal is in service with Argentina, Turkey, and at least 14 other nations. The Durandal has been used by the French Armée de l'Air for the bombing of the Libyan base at Ouadi Doum on February 16, 1986. However, the Durandal is not currently present in the weapon inventory of the French Armée de l'Air It was used by the USAF in Desert Storm, delivered by F-111E's of the 20th Fighter Wing operating out of Turkey. 20th Wing flight commander Captain George Kelman said "there is nothing better at destroying a runway than a Durandal." It has been reported that China has developed its own anti-runway bombs, the Type 200A, using Durandals as models. In the 1980s, China purchased a number of Durandals from France.
