Russia ground launched thermobaric weapons.
A thermobaric weapon, also called an aerosol bomb, a vacuum bomb or a fuel air explosive is a type of explosive that uses oxygen from the surrounding air to generate a high-temperature explosion. The pressu…
Russia ground launched thermobaric weapons.
A thermobaric weapon, also called an aerosol bomb, a vacuum bomb or a fuel air explosive is a type of explosive that uses oxygen from the surrounding air to generate a high-temperature explosion. The pressure wave from a thermobaric explosion sucks the oxygen out of the air while at the same time creating the same devastation on the ground as a small nuclear detonation without the radiological effects. Flesh on the body is literally vaporized. There is nothing to clean up.
Thermobaric weapons are almost 100% fuel-based and as a result are significantly more energetic and last longer than conventional explosives of equal weight.
The Russians began developing thermobaric weapons during their war with Afghanistan in the 1980s. The Afghans would hide in deep caves in the Tora Bora mountains. The Russian military integrated these weapons into their tanks and also shoulder fired rocket launchers. You're essentially dealing with mini-nuclear weapons fired from your shoulder or a tank.
In September 2007, Russia exploded the largest thermobaric weapon ever made. Its yield was reportedly greater than the smallest dial-a-yield nuclear weapons at their lowest settings. Russia named this particular ordnance the "Father of All Bombs" in response to the American-developed Massive Ordnance Air Blast (MOAB) bomb, which has the backronym "Mother of All Bombs" and once held the title of the most powerful non-nuclear weapon in history.
The Russian bomb contains a charge of approximately 7 tons of a liquid fuel, such as pressurized ethylene oxide, mixed with energy-rich nanoparticles, such as aluminum, surrounding a high explosive burster that when detonated created an explosion equivalent to 39.9 tons of TNT.
