MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency
Putin also has his “Father of all bombs”, allegedly four times more powerful than MOAB
The father of all bombs was test-fired by the Russians in 2007. It is not clear if Russian forces used it in anti terrorist operations in Chechnya 
The display of force by the US military with the MOAB type of ordnance has been impressive but such type of weapon is not exclusive of the US arsenal: Russia has a device four times more powerful than the US' monster bomb. The Russian version, called the Father Of All Bombs, weighs just 15,560lbs and is packed with the equivalent to 44 tons of explosive TNT.
This is four times more than the US' model which obliterates anything in its blast zone, which is twice that of the MOAB. Putin's monster explosive is known officially as the Aviation Thermobaric Bomb of Increased Power and is reportedly four times bigger than MOAB. It carries 44 tons of TNT and explodes in the same way as its American counterpart, obliterating anything within the blast zone, collapsing buildings and producing huge blasts and aftershocks.
Although - like the MOAB - it is not nuclear, the aftermath of the bomb could be comparable to a nuke being deployed. It was test-fired by the Russians in 2007 where the temperature produced by the blast was also twice as high than that in the MOAB.
The Russian FOAB's blast zone has been predicted as twice that of the US bomb and even though it is smaller in size, because of the temperature it explodes at and the fact there are four times more explosives crammed inside, it is much more powerful. And if true the device would be the most powerful non-nuclear weapon in the world.
It was successfully field-tested in the late evening of September 11, 2007, and the new weapon was aimed to replace several smaller types of nuclear bombs in its arsenal. The thermobaric device yields the equivalent of 44 tons of TNT using about seven tons of a new type of high explosive. Because of this, the bomb's blast and pressure wave have a similar effect to a small tactical nuclear weapon, although on a smaller scale.
The bomb works by detonating in mid-air. Most damage is inflicted by a supersonic shockwave and extremely high temperatures. Thermobaric weapons differ from conventional explosive weapons in that they generate a longer, more sustained blast wave with greater temperatures. In doing so, they produce more damage over a larger area than a conventional weapon of similar mass.
According to General Alexander Rushkin, the Russian deputy chief of staff, the new bomb is smaller than the MOAB but much deadlier because the temperature at the centre of the blast is twice as high.
In 1999 Russian generals threatened to use vacuum bombs to wipe out rebels from the mountains during the “anti-terrorist operation” in its restive Chechnya province.
New York-based Human Rights Watch then appealed to Putin to refrain from using fuel-air explosives. But it remains unclear if weapons of this type, and even the thermobaric father of all bombs, were used during the Chechen war.
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Read all commentsCold war, what cold war?
Apr 14th, 2017 - 07:36 pm 0The major advantage of these type of weapons is that you can do the same sort of damage as a nuke without the fallout, and equally as important, without the outrage.
They are still pretty unpleasant though:
“The [blast] kill mechanism against living targets is unique—and unpleasant.... What kills is the pressure wave, and more importantly, the subsequent rarefaction [vacuum], which ruptures the lungs.... If the fuel deflagrates but does not detonate, victims will be severely burned and will probably also inhale the burning fuel. Since the most common FAE fuels, ethylene oxide and propylene oxide, are highly toxic, undetonated FAE should prove as lethal to personnel caught within the cloud as most chemical agents.”
and “shock and pressure waves cause minimal damage to brain tissue . . . it is possible that victims of FAEs are not rendered unconscious by the blast, but instead suffer for several seconds or minutes while they suffocate.”
My bomb's bigger than your bomb, so there .......nyah nyah nyah !
Apr 14th, 2017 - 08:12 pm 0“ It weighs just 15,560lbs and is packed with the equivalent to 44 tons of explosive TNT.”
and in the next paragraph “It carries 44 tons of TNT ” This is 98560 lbs. Clever to fit that into something that weighs 15,560lbs ! OK I'm being facetious but maybe someone should proof read before printing.
In WW2, IN 1945 the RAF dropped the Grand Slam 10 ton earthquake bomb to destroy underground installations and the Bielefeld viaduct. Instead of an air-blast, it penetrated deeply and caused a mini-earthquake creating “camouflets” which destroyed the foundations. Presumably this would cause a cave system to collapse.
“My bomb's bigger than your bomb, so there .......nyah nyah nyah !”
Apr 14th, 2017 - 09:18 pm 0Exactly. I thought this sort of ridiculous willy-waving had ended with the cold war when I was a child, but apparently that was just an intermission.
The bomb would collapse buildings for sure, but maybe not a cave. It would certainly kill anyone inside in a most unpleasant way though.
And accuracy? In Mercopress? Perish the thought. I usually assume that all the details are bullshit, although that came back to bite me recently...
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