With
the United States announcing the first battlefield use of its largest,
non-nuclear bomb against ISIS in Afghanistan, I wanted to examine the
background of these highly destructive thermobaric ordnances and how the American version nicknamed the "Mother of All Bombs" compares to Russia's version, nicknamed the "Father of All Bombs".
The
United States military GBU-43/B
Massive Ordnance Air Blast Bomb or MOAB (nicknamed the "Mother of
All Bombs") was developed by the Air Force Research Laboratory and was
first tested on March 11k 2003 at the Eglin Air Force Base in Florida.
Here are the key characteristics of the MOAB:
Weight
- 21,700 pounds
Skin
- Aluminum
Guidance
- GPS using grid fins and inertial gyro
Length
- 30 feet
Diameter
- 40.5 inches
Explosive
- 18,700 pounds of H6, TNT and aluminum
Blast
Yield - 11 tons or 22,000 pounds
Blast
Radius - 150 metres or 492 feet
The
MOAB is launched from a cradle located on an airdrop platform inside a C-130
Hercules aircraft and is designed to launch at high altitude. Because of
its massive size, it is extracted from the aircraft by way of a drogue
parachute which extracts the weapon, cradle and platform. The weapon is
then released from its cradle and grid fins open and guide the weapon to its
target. By using an aluminum skin, the explosive power of the MOAB is not
constrained as it would be with a stronger metal. At a range of 1000 yards (914
metres) from the point of detonation, the MOAB is capable of destroying everything. Up to 1.7 miles
(2.7 kilometres), the shockwave is capable of killing people and causing severe
damage to structures.
Here is a background video on the MOAB:
Here
is a photo of the MOAB:
Now,
let's compare the MOAB to Russia's version of its largest, non-nuclear bomb,
the Aviation Thermobaric Bomb of Increased Power or ATBIP, nicknamed the Father
of All Bombs (FOAB). The ATBIP was first field tested on September 11,
2007. It is designed by the Russian military and can be dropped from an
aircraft on a parachute. Here are the key characteristics of
this highly classified weapon:
Weight
- 15,650 pounds
Explosive
- high explosive, aluminum powder and ethylene oxide
Yield
- approximately 44 tons or 88,000 pounds
Blast
Radius - 300 metres or 984 feet
The
official state video shows that the ATBIP is dropped from the bomb bay of a
Tu160 and falls to its detonation altitude on a parachute, however, some experts
believe that it is most likely to be released by a slow-flying cargo plane
because it appears to be launched using a drag parachute. It is exploded
in mid-air which provides maximum destruction. At 200 metres from the
epicentre, all unfortified and concrete structures are destroyed. At 300
metres from the epicentre, unfortified structures like homes are completely
destroyed and reinforced structures are partly destroyed. At 1100 metres
from the epicentre, the shock wave is capable of breaking glass and at 2300
metres from the epicentre, the shock wave is still powerful enough to knock a
person down. While some
defense analysts dispute the power of Russia's ATBIP, there is no
doubt that it is capable of delivering extremely destructive forces on its
target.
Here is a video with some information on
the ATBIP/FOAB:
Both
of these massive thermobaric bombs have the same operating principle; the
massive amount of explosives contained in the device combine with atmospheric
oxygen to create an explosive blast that penetrates huge volumes of space.
After the cloud is ignited, a vacuum is created and air rushes into the
void, resulting in total devastation. Unlike traditional munitions which
rely on metal fragments propelled by an explosive, thermobaric weapons release a massive
shockwave that is capable of destroying massive above and below ground structures
including cave complexes.
From
this posting, you can see that both Russia and the United States have developed
non-nuclear munitions that are capable of inflicting significant damage,
similar to what was experienced by Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945. It
seems that the only upside to these weapons is the fact that, while they
decimate life over a wide radius, they don't leave behind that messy
radioactive fallout that survivors have to deal with.
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