[Criminal Number 18F]

The word "Hexogen" will mean little to English-language readers. But this substance is most well-known in the Anglosphere by its British name, RDX. It's also called "Cyclonit" or "Zyklonit" in the Germanic languages.

It is a WWII-era explosive that is relatively easily synthesized. It's never used alone in military explosives any more because it is hazardously sensitive in low temperatures, and the military of all nations prefers its stuff to be stable in all terrestrial climates. It is bound into numerous plastic and molded explosive compounds, especially ones that are expected to be molded or cast, including Comp B and C (think the stuffing of bombs and grenades, which are usually cast inside).

It indicates that the terrorists are a step up from the ones using TATP. It is more powerful than TATP (or TNT for that matter). But then, neither the ETA nor Al-Qaeda are exactly new at blowing stuff up.

Neither am I ;)

(But I only use my super powers for good).

d.o.l.

Criminal Number 18F

[stm]

"It's never used alone in military explosives any more because it is hazardously sensitive in low temperatures.....

Quite true, but a small amount of it works great to heat your cup of joe first thing in the morning. During the war we used to open claymores and cut off a small piece of the C-4 and use it like sterno. It burns for a long time and is not dangerous at all unless it struck. One of our soldiers placed his canteen cup on two rocks and lit a small piece of it to warm his hot chocolate. The cup slid off the rocks, landed sqare on the piece of burning C-4, detonating it. It blew a hole the size of a quarter in the steel cup and sent it about 10 feet in the air. After that, no more adhoc sterno (heavy sigh)