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NSWC Indian Head Developing Shoulder-Mounted Thermobaric Weapons for Marine Corps
Navy Newsstand ^
| 8/14/2002 5:35:00 PM
| Chief Journalist David Nagle
Posted on 08/15/2002 4:34:04 PM PDT by Excuse_My_Bellicosity
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I'd like to see the Marines test this out on some Islamo-fascists.
To: Excuse_My_Bellicosity
Sweeeett..
To: Excuse_My_Bellicosity
One of those would REALLY come in handy in Houston!!
Stay safe; stay armed.
3
posted on
08/15/2002 4:36:17 PM PDT
by
Eaker
To: *miltech
Ka-boom!!
To: Excuse_My_Bellicosity
In my day, the only way a Marine could get a thermobaric warhead would have been through unprotected sex.
5
posted on
08/15/2002 4:42:12 PM PDT
by
Mr. Lucky
To: Excuse_My_Bellicosity
I want one!!! It wouldn't be considered an assault weapon, would it..;)
To: USMC
One!! Two!! Three!! Four!!
United States Marine Corps!!
To: dennisw; knighthawk; monkeyshine; ipaq2000; Lent; veronica; Sabramerican; beowolf; Nachum; BenF; ...
What do you think about this?!
To: Excuse_My_Bellicosity
The emphasis on
urban targets disturbs me. I know the conventional wisdom about future wars being fought in the cities instead of the plains, but bear in mind that any weapon useful against a Taliban yurt is probably just as devastating when directed against an American townhouse.
Are we funding our own destruction?
Just a thought.
9
posted on
08/15/2002 4:57:59 PM PDT
by
IronJack
To: Excuse_My_Bellicosity
Boom?
To: Excuse_My_Bellicosity
I wonder what the difference is between this and a fuel air explosive?
11
posted on
08/15/2002 5:07:24 PM PDT
by
Mark17
To: Mark17
I wonder what the difference is between this and a fuel air explosive? I'm not sure. It is my understanding that the two are very similar, but they have their differences, too.
To: Mark17
I think that this weapon uses some sort of aluminum powder to accelerate combustion instead of a fuel vapor.
To: Excuse_My_Bellicosity
ping for study.
14
posted on
08/15/2002 5:15:39 PM PDT
by
sauropod
To: IronJack
I's sure the same was said of gunpowder. I know it was an argument against the A-Bomb. If we don't stay out front then it will end up being used against American cities. Peacnicks be damned!!! The'll get us all enslaved or killed.
15
posted on
08/15/2002 5:20:01 PM PDT
by
epsjr
To: Mark17
Fuel air explosives (obviously) use fuel which is atomized into the air then set off by an initiator. Difficulties with it include safe storage.
These thermobaric bombs use powdered aluminum instead. It is the same concept as a grain elevator explosion, lots of surface area on the individual grains of aluminum which readily combines with the oxygen in the surrounding environment. Another analogy is to imagine a two pound piece of wood and two pounds of saw dust. Which burns faster.
Better living through chemistry.
To: IronJack
Had that same thought myself.
17
posted on
08/15/2002 5:22:46 PM PDT
by
nomad
To: IronJack
You ask: Are we funding our own destruction?
Have we ever had any doubt?
Alas, I don't really know much of a way out of such catch 22's. . . other than doing all we can that will last eternaly . . .for The Prince of Peace . . . until He returns and/or takes us out for a time.
18
posted on
08/15/2002 5:24:18 PM PDT
by
Quix
To: Mark17
Thermobaric bomb recipe
here._______________________________________________________________________________________________________
They called it PBXIH-135. It was the formula for an experimental explosive, developed in the early 1990s, that had shown great promise in initial tests but had never made the transition into a full-scale weapon.
The mixture consists of a common military explosive called HMX, blended with a polyurethane rubber. When detonated by a smaller explosion, the HMX molecules convert to gas and create a huge shock wave. Explosives 101.
But a shock wave isn't enough for clearing out underground tunnels. The secret to PBXIH-135 is the addition of a precise mixture of aluminum powder, which burns in the hot gases. Long after the initial shock wave, the burning aluminum sends heat and pressure bounding through corridors and around corners in search of oxygen - thus the term thermobaric, from the Greek words for heat and pressure.
A typical explosion might last a few microseconds and course a few hundred feet down a tunnel. But a thermobaric blast, fueled with aluminum and detonated in a confined space, can last several seconds, release seven times more energy and effect a "functional kill" thousands of feet away.
"The hot pressure gases will squirt into every nook and cranny - up, down, around corners and staircases," said Erwin Anderson, a retired Indian Head scientist who developed the formula. "It is particularly lethal."
To: USNBandit
Right on, thanks for the clarification!!
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