MC-130 - Daisy Cutter

A BLU-82 'Daisy Cutter' detonates after being dropped from the rear ramp of a USAF MC-130E Combat Talon.

The BLU-82 was developed to create helicopter landing zones in dense jungles during the Vietnam conflict.

Packing 12,600 pounds (5,700 kg) of GSX explosives, the BLU-82 was the largest non-nuclear bomb in the U.S. inventory.

AFSOC MC-130s have dropped these fearsome weapons during the 1991 Gulf War and during Operation Enduring Freedom (Afghanistan), 2001.

The resulting mushroom cloud from a 'Daisy Cutter' dropped on Iraqi troop concentrations during 'Desert Storm', 1991, caused a British SAS unit, working behind enemy lines, to call it in as a possible nuclear explosion.

The BLU-82 is reportedly no longer part of the U.S. arsenal.