The E120 bomblet was a biological cluster bomb

Cluster bomb

A cluster munition is a form of air-dropped or ground-launched explosive weapon that releases or ejects smaller sub-munitions. Commonly, this is a cluster bomb that ejects explosive bomblets that are designed to kill enemy personnel and destroy vehicles...

 sub-munition developed to disseminate a liquid biological agent

Biological agent

A biological agent — also called bio-agent or biological threat agent — is a bacterium, virus, prion, or fungus which may cause infection, allergy, toxicity or otherwise create a hazard to human health. They can be used as a biological weapon in bioterrorism or biological warfare...

. The E120 was developed by the United States in the early 1960s.

History

The E120 bomblet was one of several biological weapons that were developed before the United States abandoned its offensive biological warfare program in 1969-1970. The E120 was developed in the early 1960s. The Schu S-4 strain of the tularemia

Tularemia

Tularemia is a serious infectious disease caused by the bacterium Francisella tularensis. A Gram-negative, nonmotile coccobacillus, the bacterium has several subspecies with varying degrees of virulence. The most important of those is F...

 bacteria was standardized as Agent UL for use in the E120 bomblet.

Specifications

The E120 was a spherical bomblet with a diameter of 11.4 centimeters. It was designed to hold 0.1 kilograms of liquid biological agent. Much like the M139 bomblet

M139 bomblet

The M139 bomblet was a U.S. sub-munition designed for use in warheads as a chemical cluster bomb. Each bomblet held a little more than one and a quarter pounds of sarin nerve agent.-History:...

, the E120 had exterior "vanes". However, the vanes' function on the E120 was to cause the bomblet to rotate as it fell, thus shattering and rolling around upon impact while spraying the agent from a nozzle.

See also

• E14 munition
  E14 munition
  The E14 munition was a cardboard sub-munition developed by the United States biological weapons program as an anti-crop weapon...
  
  
• E61 anthrax bomblet
  E61 anthrax bomblet
  The E61 anthrax bomblet was an American biological sub-munition for the E133 cluster bomb. This anti-personnel weapon was developed in the early 1950s and carried 35 milliliters of anthrax spores or another pathogen.-History:...
  
  
• Flettner rotor bomblet
  Flettner rotor bomblet
  The Flettner rotor bomblet was a U.S. biological sub-munition that was never mass-produced. Based on the vertical Flettner rotor which takes advantage of the Magnus effect, a force acting on a spinning body in a moving airstream, it was developed toward the end of the U.S...
  
  
• M143 bomblet
  M143 bomblet
  The M143 bomblet was a biological cluster bomb sub-munition developed by the United States during the 1960s. The spherical bomblet was the biological version of the Sarin-filled M139 chemical bomblet.-History:...