A very rude Air Raider prepares to assault an unsuspecting Tumblr discussion by dropping the C Bomb.
The C Bomb series are demolition charges first introduced for the Storm 1 character class in Earth Defense Force 2017. In Earth Defense Force 2025 and Earth Defense Force 4.1: The Shadow of New Despair, they are used exclusively by the Air Raider class, while in Earth Defense Force 2: Invaders From Planet Space the Air Raider does not get them and they are instead used by the Infantry class. This continues into Earth Defense Force 5, where the C Bomb is exclusive to the Ranger.
Description[]
In all games these weapons are fundamentally the same; remote-detonated explosives placed using one button and detonated with another. They deal enormous damage with an increasingly massive blast radius as the series continues, and are best used to deal with targets that are either immobile (eg Anthills / Tunnel Exits) or slow and follow a predictable path (eg Hectors). They have quite a long reload time, so proper placement is essential.
The charges will stick to any surface they are placed on, including enemies, Vehicles, NPCs and other player characters. One traditional application is to attach a lot of them to a fast vehicle and jump out while it is moving, detonating it when it arrives at its target. Since characters in vehicles are not damaged by the hit that destroys them, however, it is a fully serviceable tactic in co-op or online in the 2025 games to get someone else to drive and blow the vehicle up while they are still in it.
More ridiculous plans involving dropping them while leaping out of a Helicopter or attaching a lot of them to a Pale Wing / Wing Diver player character to act as a guided anti-boss suicide-missile are readily encouraged.
2017[]
In 2017 the C Bomb has the fairly serious drawback that in order to reload it, Storm 1 must detonate all placed bombs. Most of these weapons are placed on the ground, but the C24 Hand Bomb is thrown like a grenade, while the C70 Bomb uses a throwing jump animation rather like the DNG Series grenades in 2025.
| Level | Name | Number placed | Damage | Reload (sec) | Attack radius (m) |
| 2 | C24 Hand Bomb | 5 | 450 | 10.0 | 10.0 |
| 16 | C24 Bomb | 5 | 1000 | 10.0 | 20.0 |
| 33 | C25 Special Bomb | 20 | 1500 | 15.0 | 15.0 |
| 47 | C26 Bomb | 5 | 6000 | 10.0 | 30.0 |
| 65 | C70 Bomb | 10 | 12000 | 10.0 | 40.0 |
2025 / 4.1[]
Description[]
In the two 2025 games all C Bombs are placed in the same way, tossed onto the ground in a low arc that only allows them to be placed on surfaces the Air Raider is standing on top of or next to. If the Air Raider is standing on a ledge there is enough arc to the throw to toss them over it, which can also be used for plans involving an Air Raider standing on the wing of an EF31 Nereid or HU04 Brute that another player character is flying and tossing bombs off, though this "wing walking" (which also works with ZE-Guns) is not particularly compatible with the helicopter moving around.
They now reload normally; pressing the reload button will delete any currently placed charges rather than them having to be set off manually first as in 2017.
C Bombs are somewhat more limited in necessity in these two games due to the Air Raider class having powerful alternatives like the Tempest missile which can do similar or even greater area damage with no need to physically place them.
Variants[]
| Level | Name | Number placed | Damage | Reload (sec) | Attack radius (m) |
| 1 | C20 Bomb | 5 | 350 | 10.0 | 15.0 |
| 16 | C24 Bomb | 5 | 1000 | 10.0 | 20.0 |
| 33 | C25 Special Bomb | 20 | 1500 | 15.0 | 15.0 |
| 46 | C30 Bomb | 5 | 6000 | 10.0 | 30.0 |
| 66 | C70 Bomb | 10 | 12000 | 15.0 | 40.0 |
IfPS[]
Basically identical to 2025 / 4.1. In IfPS, however, they are moved back to the Infantry class, meaning they do not have to compete with the Air Raider's strikes for inventory space and are far more likely to see use.
| Level | Name | Number placed | Damage | Reload (sec) | Attack radius (m) |
| 1 | C20 Bomb | 5 | 350 | 10.0 | 15.0 |
| 16 | C24 Bomb | 5 | 1000 | 10.0 | 20.0 |
| 33 | C25 Special Bomb | 20 | 1500 | 15.0 | 15.0 |
| 46 | C30 Bomb | 5 | 6000 | 10.0 | 30.0 |
| 66 | C70 Bomb | 10 | 12000 | 15.0 | 40.0 |
Trivia[]
- The weapon is named after C4 (composition 4), a common military explosive.
- The two green blocks in the normal C Bomb model are based on the American M112 Demolition Charge, while the final model is some kind of fictional space pipe bomb. The 2017 version appears to be a bundle of dynamite.