With a nominal weight of 500 lb (230 kg), it is one of the smallest bombs in current service, and one of the most common air-dropped weapons in the world.
Currently only the General Dynamics plant in Garland, Texas and Nitro-Chem in Bydgoszcz, Poland are Department of Defense-certified to manufacture bombs for the US Armed Forces.
[citation needed] The Mk82 is currently undergoing a minor redesign to allow it to meet the insensitive munitions requirements set by Congress.
According to a test report conducted by the United States Navy's Weapon Systems Explosives Safety Review Board established in the wake of the 1967 USS Forrestal fire, the cooking off time for a Mk82 is approximately 2 minutes 30 seconds.
[11] In July 2024, the Biden administration resumed shipments of the 500-pound bombs to Israel, which were halted in May due to concerns about the high number of civilian casualties in Gaza.