500 lbs 25 E Matra bomb

[pzgr40]

I am looking for some info about the French 500 lbs 25E Matra bomb
- what countries used it? I know it was used by France, Germany and the Netherlands. What other countries?
- It was parachute retarded, but could it also be used without the parachute retarder?
- when was it phased out and by what bomb type was it replaced?
- Under which airplanes was it used?

Thanks in advance,
Regards, DJH

 

[Dreamk]

Not 500lbs but 250 kg
There is not a lot of info available on the 1960-2000 period French bombs.
The denomination of post 1960s French bomb is a real mess as they were produced first by the Edgard Brand company (SNEB), then the STRIM develope new models of bombs, that were produced by SAMP company, then by the MATRA consortium (but the foundry kept the name SAMP), and each of these societies issued their own appellation for these same bombs.
In practice by the 1990s the bombs were designated "SAMP" and the Fuzes "MATRA" in accordance to which company effectively produced what.
The 25E were standard equipment on Jaguar and Mirage 5F
The 25E is a problematic denomination as it applies to the bomb body but also to the retarded (chute) tail cone unit
The type 25D1 coniucal tail unit was also available but I have never found visual of textual confirmation of its use on the 25E bomb body
So you can have as here a 25E bomb with a a 25D tail unit (photo 1) and a 25F1 bomb with a 25E tail unit (photo 2)

 

[kiwieod]

i have this SAMP catalogue from 1979,it may contain info you need.there are alot more pages not shown,i can make copies for you

 

[Eggburt1969]

i have this SAMP catalogue from 1979,it may contain info you need.there are alot more pages not shown,i can make copies for you

If the catalogue could be scanned on a flatbed scanner, I can then put them into the program I have. With this I can tidy them up, OCR the pages, and then convert the final processed images to PDF for others to use.

 

[pzgr40]

Thanks for the info.
@ Dreamk, can I use your pictures for my matra fuze cutaway posting please?

 

[Dreamk]

I have gathered this photograph from the web quite a long time ago and I have not noted the details of the original site - for forum postings it's ok but if you want to include it in a publication you may need to identify the source. I think it came from a page about armament of the Lybian Mirage V taken in the aftermath of the NATO intervention in Lybia but I am not sure of that