China’s non-nuclear hydrogen bomb generates fireball to burn targets at 1800°F: Report

Interesting Engineering ^ | April 20, 2025 | Christopher McFadden

[Twotone]

The new weapon could be used for area denial or destruction of targets like swarms of drones.

Chinese researchers have allegedly developed a new kind of non-nuclear explosive weapon based on hydrogen fuel. While not nuclear, the new 2kg (4.4 lbs) bomb is designed to cause massive heat and fire damage over a long duration and is far more potent than traditional TNT-based bombs.

According to the team behind it, the secret sauce is magnesium hydride, a powder that stores hydrogen in a solid form. The weapon is detonated using a standard starter explosive that breaks the solid main payload apart into tiny particles, releasing the stored hydrogen gas.

Once this has been completed, the hydrogen gas is readily ignited, producing a fireball with a temperature exceeding 1,832°F (1,000°C). Unlike TNT, which flashes for a split second (~0.12 seconds), this fireball lasts over 2 seconds, 15 times longer.

This produces a “white-hot” fireball that is so hot it can allegedly melt metal over a large area. In this sense, it can be thought of as more akin to napalm or a thermobaric weapon than a nuclear weapon.

According to Chinese sources, the bomb was developed by the China State Shipbuilding Corporation’s (CSSC) 705 Research Institute, which is a key player in underwater weapon systems.

“Hydrogen gas explosions ignite with minimal ignition energy, have a broad explosion range, and unleash flames that race outward rapidly while spreading widely,” said the team, led by CSSC research scientist Wang Xuefeng.

“This combination allows precise control over blast intensity, easily achieving uniform destruction of targets across vast areas,” he added.

According to the team, the blast itself is not as powerful as more conventional explosives in terms of blast pressure, yielding around 40% of the equivalent TNT. But it can release far more heat and lasts much longer.

While the weapon cannot deliver the quick punch that more conventional chemical explosives do, it acts more like a blowtorch, providing a slower, more sustained, and super-hot hit.

Another interesting side effect of the explosive is that it doesn’t just explode; it also acts like a kind of thermal chain reaction that lasts as long as it has fuel to sustain it. Hydrogen just got hotter

This, the team believes, would make it ideal for tasks like area denial, making impacted areas too hot to occupy for a time. It is also adept at incinerating targets, such as vehicles and other equipment.

The weapon could also be used to burn through defensive structures or destroy objects, such as swarms of drones. It could also have potential applications as a fuel source for things like submarines or ships.

Producing magnesium hydride was once a challenging and hazardous process, typically conducted in small laboratory batches. However, China has recently built a factory capable of producing 150 tonnes per year, utilizing a safer and cheaper method.

This weapon has some other potential benefits beyond its destructive capabilities. Since it is not nuclear-based, for example, it can be developed without breaching nuclear treaties.

If fully developed and deployed, it would also introduce a new class of thermal weapons that can fry electronics, melt armor, or torch an area for denial purposes.

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TOPICS:
KEYWORDS: china; fireball

[Tell It Right]

Sounds to me like it could be used to burn large swaths of civilians.

[alancarp]

Something that small could take out submarines or ships without them seeing it coming.

[algore]

when I was little I used to make hydrogen “bombs”

I would generate hydrogen with aluminum, water and lye

fill up balloons, light the end and let it go.

they would float up in the air and explode.

Great fun for an 9 year old

[Empire_of_Liberty]

Sounds like internet videos of welding people into their apartments, right after the Wuhan release…

More BS from the Chi-Coms.

[z3n]

[WeaslesRippedMyFlesh]

drop one on wuhan

[WeaslesRippedMyFlesh]

did mitch mcconnell give them the tech

[Red Badger]

Mongolian BBQ!..................

[Baldwin]

Sounds like the neutron bomb that Jimmy Carter talked back in the late 70s.

[ClearCase_guy]

How does it affect heat seeking missiles?

[DesertRhino]

So it’s a standard bomb, not to be confused in any way with a hydrogen fusion bomb.

[antidemoncrat]

When Hydrogen burns it creates water. I wonder if that means when the bomb goes off does it extinguishes itself?

[DesertRhino]

No… the neutron bomb was a fusion based H-bomb. A thermonuclear bomb around 2kt, tweaked to push out an unusually huge blast of radiation.

This new “hydrogen” bomb is a standard bomb that uses hydrogen in a standard fuel burning model, No fusion, no fission spark plug.

[pfflier]

Sounds like the neutron bomb that Jimmy Carter talked back in the late 70s.

Nothing like it. The neutron bomb is a low yield nuclear weapon designed to emit heavy radiation.

This is a non-radioactive chemical explosion weapon much like a thermobaric bomb.

[lefty-lie-spy]

Not even close. How did you come to that conclusion?

[Leaning Right]

Mitch McConnell and his wife received a gift of at least $5 million from his Chinese father-in-law. And the father-in-law has very close ties to the Chinese Communist Party.

So, yeah. A good rule of thumb is “He who pays the piper calls the tune.”

💰💰💰💰💰

Side point: McConnell could have done the ethical thing, and declined the gift until he retired. But “ethics” is a forbidden word in Congress.

[If You Want It Fixed - Fix It]

China detonates their own design hand grenade.

Shocker.

[Reily]

A neutron bomb still uses thermonuclear processes. This use chemicals processes to generate an explosions. More like a thermobaric bomb.

[Rio]

t also acts like a kind of thermal chain reaction that lasts as long as it has fuel to sustain it. Needs oxygen to sustain it, too. Magnesium hydride is MgH2.