Wednesday, September 12, 2007
Russia test most powerful bomb vacuum bomb
Russia test most powerful bomb
Russia tests world's most powerful vacuum bomb (video)
( RIA Novosti ) - Russia has tested a thermobaric bomb that is the most powerful in the world, a top military official said Tuesday.
Known as a vacuum bomb, it uses a fuel-air explosive and can create overpressures equal to an atomic bomb, said Alexander Rukshin, deputy chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces.
"It is environmentally friendly, compared to a nuclear bomb, and it will enable us to ensure national security and at the same time stand up to international terrorism in any part of the globe and in any situation," he said.
He stressed that the bomb does not violate any of the international agreements that Russia has signed.
Giant fireball: The ordnance, claimed the world’s most powerful non-nuclear bomb, explodes during a test in this undated image shown by Russian Channel One television in Moscow on Tuesday.
Moscow: Russia’s military on Tuesday announced that it had successfully tested a lethal new air-delivered bomb, which it described as the world’s most powerful non-nuclear weapon.
In what appears to be the Kremlin’s latest display of military might, officials said Moscow had developed a new thermobaric bomb to add to its already potent nuclear arsenal.
Russia’s state-run Channel One television said the ordnance — dubbed the Father of all Bombs — is four times more powerful than the U.S.’s Mother of all Bombs.
“The results of tests of the aviation explosive device that has been created have shown that it is comparable with nuclear weapons in its efficiency and potential,” Alexander Rukshin, a deputy chief of the Russian armed forces staff, told the channel.
“You will now see it in action — the bomb which has no match in the world is being tested at a military site,” said the report. It showed a Tupolev 160 strategic bomber dropping the bomb over a testing ground. A large explosion followed.
Vacuum bomb
The aviation vacuum bomb, which is also known as a fuel-air bomb, was the mightiest ever created, it added.
The announcement comes at a time of growing tension between Russia and the West, and follows a tumultuous eight months in which Vladimir Putin has denounced U.S. power, torn up a conventional arms agreement with NATO, and grabbed a large, if symbolic, chunk of the Arctic.
The development appears to be another response to the Bush administration’s plans to site elements of its missile defence system in central Europe. Mr. Putin has denounced the plan, arguing that it upsets Europe’s strategic balance, and has vowed to respond.
The U.S. Massive Ordnance Air Blast, nicknamed the Mother of all Bombs, is a large-yield satellite-guided, air-delivered device, which previously enjoyed the dubious accolade of the most powerful non-nuclear weapon in history.
Thermobaric weapons differ from conventional explosive weapons by using oxygen from the atmosphere, rather than carrying an oxidising agent in their explosives. They produce more energy than normal weapons but are hard to control.
The US used similar fuel-air munitions to clear jungle for helicopter landings during the Vietnam War. The Soviet Union also developed its own fuel-air weapons, deploying them against China and in Afghanistan, and the Russian army used them in its second war in Chechnya.
Russia tests'father of bombs'
MOSCOW: The vacuum bomb tested by Russia on Wednesday is said to be less harmful on the environment than a nuclear bomb.
Alexander Rukshin, Russian deputy armed forces chief of staff, said: "I want to stress that the action of this weapon does not contaminate the environment, in contrast to a nuclear one.''
The consumption of gases in the blast generates a partial vacuum that can compound damage and injuries caused by the explosion itself. ‘‘The main destruction is inflicted by an ultrasonic shockwave and incredibly high temperature,'' the reports said. ‘‘All that is alive merely evaporates,'' Rukshin said.
One TV report said the new bomb was much stronger than the US-built Massive Ordnance Air Blast Bomb - MOAB, also known as ‘‘Mother of All Bombs''. ‘‘So, Russian designers called the new weapon ‘Father of All Bombs','' it said.
Showing the orange-painted US prototype, the report said the Russian bomb was four times more powerful - 44 metric tons of TNT equivalent - and the temperature at the epicenter of its blast was twice as high.
US forces have used a ‘thermobaric' bomb, which works on similar principles, in their campaign against Al Qaida and Taliban forces in the mountains of eastern Afghanistan.
Meanwhile, a Russian newspaper said Moscow could be developing a top-secret new type of submarine capable of patrolling underwater longer than existing diesel-powered submarines. The project - codenamed 20120 - came to light when details were inadvertantly posted on the Internet site of a provincial town, Kommersant newspaper reported.
The posting has now been taken down and the navy denied any knowledge of the project. Russia is boosting military spending to back up its new assertive foreign policy.
Alexander Rukshin, Russian deputy armed forces chief of staff, said: "I want to stress that the action of this weapon does not contaminate the environment, in contrast to a nuclear one.''
The consumption of gases in the blast generates a partial vacuum that can compound damage and injuries caused by the explosion itself. ‘‘The main destruction is inflicted by an ultrasonic shockwave and incredibly high temperature,'' the reports said. ‘‘All that is alive merely evaporates,'' Rukshin said.
One TV report said the new bomb was much stronger than the US-built Massive Ordnance Air Blast Bomb - MOAB, also known as ‘‘Mother of All Bombs''. ‘‘So, Russian designers called the new weapon ‘Father of All Bombs','' it said.
Showing the orange-painted US prototype, the report said the Russian bomb was four times more powerful - 44 metric tons of TNT equivalent - and the temperature at the epicenter of its blast was twice as high.
US forces have used a ‘thermobaric' bomb, which works on similar principles, in their campaign against Al Qaida and Taliban forces in the mountains of eastern Afghanistan.
Meanwhile, a Russian newspaper said Moscow could be developing a top-secret new type of submarine capable of patrolling underwater longer than existing diesel-powered submarines. The project - codenamed 20120 - came to light when details were inadvertantly posted on the Internet site of a provincial town, Kommersant newspaper reported.
The posting has now been taken down and the navy denied any knowledge of the project. Russia is boosting military spending to back up its new assertive foreign policy.
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