Mk-81, 82, 83, and 84 GP Bombs

U.S. Navy photo by Photographer’s Mate Airman Justin S. Osborne. (030321-N-0382O-506)

The Mk-80 series bombs are the standard general-purpose bombs used by the US Navy and allies and were first dropped in combat during the Vietnam War. The Mk-82 also has the capability to mount a retardation system using either folding fins or an inflated ballute to brake the bomb after release, allowing them to be dropped at lower altitudes as the dropping aircraft has more time to move away from them. Those versions are called the Mk-82 Snake Eye (fins) and Mk-82AIR (ballute) in DCS.

The F-14 is capable of carrying all the various bombs in the Mk-80s series, 81 through to 84. While the ground attack mission never really materialized for the F-14 in the Navy, it was tested for and cleared to deliver these weapons from the start.

The F-14 uses the Phoenix rails (stations 3-6) and the glove pylons’ lower stations to mount the bombs. The rails themselves can carry all four variants while the 81 to 83 can also be mounted on substations along the sides of the Phoenix rails as well as on TERs on the glove pylons.

All of the Mk-80 bombs have nose fuzes only and should be dropped with the nose (N) fuze setting on the mechanical fuze switch on the RIO armament panel. The Mk-82AIR and Snake Eye variants use the tail fuze wire to enable bomb retardation, meaning that the nose/tail (N/T) mechanical fuze option should be used if retardation is needed.

The total amount of the different bombs carried depends on weapon weight and weapon clearance between the rails; the actual number varies from 18 for the 81s and 82s to just 4 for the 84s as those can only be mounted on the rails themselves. For more info, see the F-14 loadout diagrams.