There’s an impact or proximity fuse at the tip, so you want the bomb facing a certain direction when it lands so that it actually detonates.
Then you also want it to not be rotating randomly and wandering around like a curveball while it’s falling, you want it to drop exactly where you aimed it. The fins and torpedo shape help stabilize them in flight so they fall very close to where the bombardier was aiming.
Less collateral, fewer duds.
The Magnus effect causes a spinning object not to fall in a straight line. You can check it out on many youtube videos. This makes accurate targeting inefficient.
Fins and a torpedo shape are aerodynamic and fall fairly straight. Plus with guided munitions, these are used to more precisely guide missiles to their targets.
Modern bombs are also designed with specific purposes which are not “orientation free”. A bunker buster, for example, is designed to be effective only in specific orientation. Shaped charges, for example, must face the surface they are trying to penetrate (facing upwards will make them quite useless)
There’s an impact or proximity fuse at the tip, so you want the bomb facing a certain direction when it lands so that it actually detonates.
Then you also want it to not be rotating randomly and wandering around like a curveball while it’s falling, you want it to drop exactly where you aimed it. The fins and torpedo shape help stabilize them in flight so they fall very close to where the bombardier was aiming.
Less collateral, fewer duds.
There’s an impact or proximity fuse at the tip, so you want the bomb facing a certain direction when it lands so that it actually detonates.
Then you also want it to not be rotating randomly and wandering around like a curveball while it’s falling, you want it to drop exactly where you aimed it. The fins and torpedo shape help stabilize them in flight so they fall very close to where the bombardier was aiming.
Less collateral, fewer duds.
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