DESTRUCTION: The world's largest non-nuclear bomb tested by Russians
Posted on 09/11/2007 5:59:17 PM PDT by Stoat
Russia has exploded the world's biggest non-nuclear bomb in a dramatic escalation of the new Cold War.
Nicknamed 'the father of all bombs', it was filmed being dropped from a strategic bomber and exploding in a massive fireball.
The film then showed the debris of apartment buildings and armoured vehicles at a testing range, as well as ground burned by a massive explosion.
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DESTRUCTION: The world's largest non-nuclear bomb tested by Russians
It didn't give the bomb's military name or say when it was tested.
Yuri Balyko, head of the Russian defence ministry's institute in charge of weapons design, said yesterday: "We have got a relatively cheap ordnance with a high strike power."
The test comes as Russia spends massively increased oil revenue on rebuilding its military might.
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It has been nicknamed the "dad of all bombs" and is four times more powerful than the U.S. "mother of all bombs."
The device is said to be four times more powerful than America's Massive Ordnance Air Blast, nicknamed the Mother Of All Bombs.
It would target more specific areas than nuclear bombs, and is an immediate threat to problem areas such as Chechnya.
Last night a source close to the US National Security Council said it was a "matter of concern" that Moscow would develop such a huge weapon at a time when there was no obvious need.
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A computer image of a new ordnance from Russian tv which is claimed by the Russian military the world's most powerful non-nuclear bomb
He added that the US would ask for an explanation. He said there was "no chance" that America would become involved in a new arms race with the Russians and that the US had no use for bombs larger than the ones already in its arsenal.
While US intelligence was aware that Moscow was working on a new thermobaric device, it did not know that a test was imminent.
The latest raising of tension by Russia comes after president Vladimir Putin revived the Cold War era practice of flying bombers on long-range patrols.
Last week Royal Air Force fighter jets were scrambled to intercept eight Russian military planes flying in airspace patrolled by Nato.
The incident was the latest this summer in which British fighters have been used to warn off long-range Russian reconnaissance aircraft.
The so-called Mother of all Bombs is the biggest weapon in America's arsenal, capable of detonating 21,000lb of explosives above the ground.
The huge bomb, dropped from a slowmoving C130 Hercules aircraft and guided to its target by the satellite-linked global positioning system, can create temperatures of up to 1,000f (538c).
It is designed to obliterate chemical or biological agents concealed in bunkers.
The US is believed to have 15 in its arsenal but none is believed to have been used against an enemy.
Sorry it took so long, but I had to study post 37 for a few minutes just to make sure I understood. LOL
Interensting comments... I’ll give that some thought. Thank you.
Ok I'll give you baked meat pies. But alcoholism and hot tennis stars were NOT invented in Russia. The Russians perfected depressing literature but the Greeks invented it.
Given the same amount of time we'd have improved on our first atom bombs and made them much more lethal, or damaging, or whatever.
Time marches on and science progresses.
Bless you.
Not to mention the world’s largest microchips, and largest laptop computer! Five people are required to carry the laptop!
MOAB-SKI....
The MOAB has 21,000lb = 10.5 tons of HE. The Russian thing has only 7 tons but claims the effect of 11 tons = 22,000 lb of TNT.
I can promise that the MOAB’s 10.5 tons packs a LOT more than that...
Who’s your daddy?
Is this one bigger than the Czar Bomba?
Well, the MOAB also includes some type of special metal casing that vaporizes and enhances the shockwave (saw it on the military channel). Think a big wall moving at supersonic speed. That shockwave can do some amazing things. For example, if dropped near a tunnel entrance, even a LONG one, anyone in that tunnel will be turned to goo. If airburst, that shockwave will create significant seismic effects. I’m sure there are other effects/uses.
Tsar (Czar) Bomba is a nuke — this is conventional, a firecracker compared to a nuke. ALL conventional bombs are firecrackers compared to real nukes, even the first ones.
In any case, I'd class it as a genuine "WMD"...
Hiroshima had 1000 times more raw energy, plus, lots of it was penetrating radiation and thermal, not just blast. And even given that, got ~30% lethality within 3 miles.
I’m familiar with FAB and therbobaric physics. Even an enhanced thermobaric with a CL-20 core and ethylene oxide load won’t match that, at 11 tons TNT eq.
The Russian bomb is only a little bigger than our MOAB.
Sorry, they are making the lethality numbers up. Makes sense; you want your enemies to be frightened of your capabilities.
That’s why I put in the 30% at 1.6 mile radius, because I wasn’t sure what they meant.
So they still are claiming better performance, even if you consider a 3.2 mile diameter.
Yeah, it’s a fearsome weapon, but any 11 ton bomb would be.
Maybe they can test it on some Chechnyan Islamo-Fascists.
In the last 1000 years years, the only meaningful period in history insofar as it benefially affects the entire world.
So, you want to compare the combustibles, not the energy release to determine lethality from suffocation in a given period of time, which is what? ~ something like 5 minutes maybe.
Buildings and human bodies are going to burn more slowly than gasoline. Keep that in mind as you do your comparisons.
Also, assume the Russians have improved on the performance of the device since our last announced attainments. We may also have improved the MOAB, but who's saying anything?
Using the “2,000 yard ‘blast area’”, (clearly a diameter) by the arrow in their graphic, that is only a 1.14 mile diameter — or a 0.57 mile radius. As you say — something definitely does not compute...
Just kids Havin fun
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