I think that is what is behind some of todays concepts.
The thermobaric devices are indeed quite like a FAE, but they are designed to approximate low plasma temperatures, and are reinforced when the detonation is enclosed. The russia model seems designed to take out all the rooms on a floor of a concrete reinforced building, from a man-portable rocket.
We've been monkeying around with the same things for some time, but hadn't deployed many devices, especially in small scale applications.
The TB bomb that we have been briefed on in the British army (same as used in Afghanistan, and don't forget these bombs have been produced as part of an Anglo-American programme), carries a high amount of highly combustible fluid, and works in 4 stages.
1. On detonation, the fluid vaporizes, creating a massive gas cloud.
2. The fluid explodes on contact with oxygen in the air, creating a high-pressure fireball with temperatures reaching between 1,500C and 3,000C (you'll have to work out the Fahrenheit).
3. The high-pressure fireball produces a major shockwave, which expands at 9,850ft per second, until it reaches 2,600ft in diameter. This crushes everything in its path.
4. When the oxygen in the blast area is burnt, it creates a vacuum, and as the fireball recedes, everything that is loose including Humans, are sucked into the void.
The heat produced and blast diameter calculations have been made on the 2,000lb bomb that was dropped in Afghanistan.
Null and void
I'd love to be able to tell you, but unfortunately can't. However, I'm always very dubious about these sort of claims, and to tell the truth, would never want to find myself in a position where I would have to carry out the drills. My beliefs are that the drills were put in place, solely to protect properties and equipment, and that us mere humans would be cooked alive at the temperatures we would be subjected to. But anyway, I'm a sceptical old Sergeant, who has stayed alive through quite a few theatres, by being so.
Den.