On September 11, 2007, Russia successfully tested the world's most powerful non-nuclear weapon. Strategic bomber The Tu-160 dropped a bomb weighing 7.1 tons and a power of about 40 tons in TNT equivalent with a guaranteed radius of destruction of all living things of more than three hundred meters. In Russia, this ammunition was nicknamed “The Father of All Bombs.” It belonged to the class of volumetric explosion ammunition.
The development and testing of a munition called the “Daddy of All Bombs” is the Russian response to the United States. Until this moment, the most powerful non-nuclear weapon was considered American bomb GBU-43В MOAB, which the developers themselves called the “Mother of all bombs”. The Russian “father” surpassed “mom” in all respects. Is it true, American ammunition does not belong to the class of vacuum ammunition - it is a very ordinary landmine.
Today, volumetric explosion weapons are the second most powerful after nuclear weapons. What is its operating principle based on? What explosive makes vacuum bombs equal in strength to thermonuclear monsters?
The principle of operation of volumetric explosion ammunition
Vacuum bombs or volumetric explosion ammunition (or volumetric detonating ammunition) is a type of ammunition that works on the principle of creating a volumetric explosion, known to mankind for many hundreds of years.
In terms of their power, such ammunition is comparable to nuclear charges. But unlike the latter, they do not have a factor radiation contamination terrain and do not fall under any of international conventions regarding weapons of mass destruction.
Man became acquainted with the phenomenon of volumetric explosion a long time ago. Similar explosions occurred quite often at flour mills, where tiny flour dust accumulated in the air, or at sugar factories. More great danger are similar explosions in coal mines. Volumetric explosions are one of the most terrible dangers that await miners underground. Coal dust and methane gas accumulate in poorly ventilated faces. For initiation powerful explosion In such conditions, even a small spark is enough.
A typical example of a volumetric explosion is the explosion of domestic gas in a room.
The physical principle of operation by which a vacuum bomb works is quite simple. It usually uses an explosive with a low boiling point, which easily transforms into gaseous state even with low temperatures(for example, acetylene oxide). To create an artificial volumetric explosion, you simply need to create a cloud from a mixture of air and flammable material and set it on fire. But this is just in theory - in practice this process is quite complicated.
At the center of a volumetric explosion munition is a small demolition charge consisting of a conventional explosive (HE). Its functions include spraying the main charge, which quickly turns into a gas or aerosol and reacts with oxygen in the air. It is the latter that plays the role of an oxidizer, which is why a vacuum bomb is several times more powerful than a conventional bomb of the same mass.
The task of the demolition charge is to uniformly distribute the flammable gas or aerosol in space. Then a second charge comes into play, causing the cloud to detonate. Sometimes several charges are used. The delay between the activation of two charges is less than one second (150 ms).
The name “vacuum bomb” does not accurately reflect the principle of operation of this weapon. Yes, after the detonation of such a bomb, there really is a decrease in pressure, but we are not talking about any kind of vacuum. In general, volumetric explosion ammunition has already given rise to a large number of myths.
Various liquids (ethylene and propylene oxides, dimethylacetylene, propyl nitrite), as well as light metal powders (most often magnesium), are usually used as explosives in bulk ammunition.
How does this weapon work?
When ammunition is detonated, a volumetric explosion occurs shock wave, but it is much weaker than the explosion of a conventional explosive such as TNT. However, the shock wave from a volumetric explosion lasts much longer than from the detonation of conventional ammunition.
If we compare the effect of a conventional charge with a pedestrian being hit by a truck, then the effect of a shock wave during a volumetric explosion is a roller that will not only slowly pass over the victim, but will also stand on it.
However, the most mysterious damaging factor bulk ammunition is a wave low blood pressure, which follows the shock front. There are a large number of conflicting opinions about its action. There is evidence that it is the low pressure zone that has the most destructive effect. However, this seems unlikely since the pressure drop is only 0.15 atmospheres.
Jumpers experience a short-term pressure drop of up to 0.5 atmospheres, and this does not lead to lung rupture or eyes falling out of their sockets.
Another feature makes volumetric explosion ammunition more effective and dangerous for the enemy. The blast wave after detonating such ammunition does not go around obstacles and is not reflected from them, but “flows” into every crack and shelter. Therefore, you definitely won’t be able to hide in a trench or dugout if an aircraft vacuum bomb is dropped on you.
The shock wave travels along the surface of the soil, making it ideal for detonating anti-personnel and anti-tank mines.
Why didn't all ammunition become vacuum-sealed?
The effectiveness of volumetric explosion ammunition became obvious almost immediately after the start of their use. The detonation of ten gallons (32 liters) of atomized acetylene had the same effect as an explosion of 250 kg of TNT. Why haven't all modern ammunition become bulky?
The reason lies in the features of a volumetric explosion. Volumetric detonating ammunition has only one damaging factor - a shock wave. They produce neither cumulative nor fragmentation effects on the target.
In addition, their ability to destroy a barrier is extremely low, since their explosion is of the “burning” type. However, in most cases, an explosion of the “detonation” type is required, which destroys obstacles in its path or throws them away.
An explosion of bulk ammunition is possible only in the air; it cannot be carried out in water or soil, since oxygen is needed to create a flammable cloud.
For the successful use of volumetric detonating ammunition, weather conditions are important, which determine the success of the formation of a gas cloud. There is no point in creating bulky small-caliber ammunition: aerial bombs weighing less than 100 kg and shells with a caliber of less than 220 mm.
In addition, for bulk ammunition, the trajectory of hitting the target is very important. They are most effective when hitting an object vertically. Slow-motion footage of the explosion of a bulk munition shows that the shock wave forms a toroidal cloud, best when it “spreads” along the ground.
History of creation and application
Volumetric explosion ammunition (like many other weapons) owes its birth to the evil German weapons genius. During the last world war, the Germans paid attention to the power of explosions that occur in coal mines. They tried to use the same physical principles for the production of a new type of ammunition.
Nothing real came of it, and after the defeat of Germany, these developments went to the allies. They were forgotten for many decades. The Americans were the first to remember about volumetric explosions during the Vietnam War.
In Vietnam, the US soldiers widely used combat helicopters, with which they supplied their troops and evacuated the wounded. The construction of landing sites in the jungle became a rather serious problem. Clearing an area for just one helicopter to land and take off required the hard work of an entire sapper platoon for 12-24 hours. It was not possible to clear the sites using conventional explosions, because they left behind huge craters. That’s when they remembered about volumetric explosion ammunition.
A combat helicopter could carry several similar ammunition on board, the explosion of each of them creating a platform quite suitable for landing.
It also turned out to be very effective combat use bulk ammunition, they had a strong psychological effect on the Vietnamese. It was very difficult to hide from such an explosion even in a reliable dugout or bunker. The Americans successfully used volumetric explosion bombs to destroy partisans in tunnels. At the same time, the USSR began developing similar ammunition.
The Americans equipped their first bombs various types hydrocarbons: ethylene, acetylene, propane, propylene and others. In the USSR they experimented with a variety of metal powders.
However, the first generation volumetric explosion ammunition was quite demanding in terms of bombing accuracy and was highly dependent on weather conditions, did not work well at subzero temperatures.
To develop second-generation ammunition, the Americans used a computer on which they simulated a volumetric explosion. At the end of the 70s of the last century, the UN adopted a convention banning these weapons, but this did not stop their development in the USA and the USSR.
Today, third-generation volumetric explosion ammunition has already been developed. Work in this direction is actively carried out in the USA, Germany, Israel, China, Japan and Russia.
"The Daddy of All Bombs"
It should be noted that Russia is among the states that have the most advanced developments in the field of creating volumetric explosion weapons. The high-power vacuum bomb tested in 2007 is a clear confirmation of this fact.
Until this time, the most powerful non-nuclear weapon was considered to be the American one. aerial bomb GBU-43/B, weighing 9.5 tons and 10 meters long. The Americans themselves considered this guided bomb not very effective. In their opinion, it is better to use against tanks and infantry cluster munitions. It should also be noted that GBU-43/B does not apply to bulk ammunition, it contains ordinary explosives.
In 2007, after testing, Russia adopted a high-power vacuum bomb. This development is kept secret; neither the abbreviation assigned to the ammunition nor the exact number of bombs in service with the Russian Armed Forces are known. It was stated that the power of this superbomb is 40-44 tons of TNT equivalent.
Because of heavy weight bombs, the only means of delivering such ammunition can be an airplane. The leadership of the Russian armed forces stated that nanotechnology was used in the development of the ammunition.
If you have any questions, leave them in the comments below the article. We or our visitors will be happy to answer them
The most powerful non-firing weapon has been successfully tested in Russia. nuclear bomb on the ground. With less weight, it is 20 times greater than the “strongest” American bomb.
Volumetric detonating or vacuum bomb - all this different names the same weapon.
After a spectacular and spectacular test of a new Russian aerial bomb of this type from a Tu-160 bomber, interest in such weapons has been greatly fueled.
What kind of bomb is this and is it really capable of becoming a gravedigger? nuclear warheads? Or is this another step by humanity towards creating more environmentally friendly, but inherently barbaric weapons?
Wonder Bomb
Paradox: humanity suffered from vacuum bombs centuries before their invention. And even before understanding the processes of volumetric explosion. For reasons unknown to contemporaries, mines exploded, sawmills, flour mills, and sugar factories were blown up.
After all, what is a volumetric explosion? A mixture of an aerosol cloud of natural gases and other hydrocarbons: flour, coal dust, sugar with oxygen - this is a ready-to-use bomb. A detonator in the form of a spark or torch is enough - and there is an explosion.
Due to the ability to create a super powerful blast wave and burn oxygen at large areas to a state close to a vacuum, and the name of the bomb came from. It was declared by UN experts to be "an inhumane means of warfare that causes excessive suffering." A person in the area of such a bomb explosion receives monstrous injuries. But another paradox is that vacuum bombs were almost never used against regular army soldiers.
In Vietnam, American pilots and helicopter pilots called them fuel air explosive and mostly bombed the jungle with them. The explosion created an acceptable-sized landing site. No more was required from these bombs - the existing classical types of ammunition coped with their tasks quite well.
If you need to shoot at a tank, you need cumulative projectile. A vacuum bomb does not have this effect. It is more common to hit infantry with high-explosive fragmentation shells. This bomb also produced almost no fragments.
You can't shoot it at submarines, it can easily fail to explode in the rain, in the heat or, say, on a windy mountain range.
In war as in war
What then can this bomb do except cut down trees and detonate mines? The most valuable thing, from the point of view of the generals, is its quality: the aerosol before the explosion can flow into a cave, into a trench, or anywhere. Right up to the tank hatch, if it is not closed, of course. The tankers did not close the hatches in battle for fear of a cumulative projectile. But how does a tanker know what will fly into his tank: a cumulative projectile or a vacuum bomb? And then the military learned to bypass weak sides vacuum bombs. For example, in Afghanistan, our Su-25 attack aircraft dropped ODAB-500P volumetric detonating bombs weighing half a ton on the dushmans. They hit targets in the valleys. And in the mountains, where the aerosol cloud quickly dissipated, these bombs were used in conjunction with ordinary smoke bombs. As the pilots recall, the thick smoke did not allow the aerosol to quickly dissipate. Combination: for six vacuums, two smoke bombs. The effect is terrible.
Secrets of our town
Today there are only two comparable bombs: the American "Mother of All Bombs" and the aforementioned Russian "Father of All Bombs".
Everything is known about the American. Created by designer Albert Wimorts, these bombs are assembled in McAlister. She has three names: military code GBU-43/B, official name“Massive Ordnance Air Blast”, well, purely journalistic - “mother”. Length - 10 m, diameter - 1 m. Of its 9.5 tons of mass, 8.5 tons are explosives. In 2003, the US Air Force conducted two bomb tests at a test site in Florida, after which a single bomb was sent to Iraq, but never exploded. No suitable target was found.
Ours also has many names: as many as four. This is a tradition: the ammunition in the design bureau is first assigned a code, and after being adopted for service, it is given two more military designations: secret and unclassified. True, all three are classified for now. Why is it unclear? There is only one thing left, the unofficial one - “father”.
Well, okay, “dad” is “dad”.
Who is cooler? Our bomb is a ton lighter, but it has four times the radius of guaranteed destruction. That is, with an explosive mass of 7.1 tons, the TNT equivalent of the explosion is 44 tons. The temperature at the epicenter of the explosion is twice as high in ours, and in terms of the affected area, the “father” is as much as 20 times larger than the “mother.” It seems that victory is ours. But there is one nuance: the American “mother” is a semi-vacuum bomb, so to speak. It is designed to destroy underground bunkers, but a volumetric explosion is not capable of “blowing up the ground”; this requires classical explosives. “Mommy” is also stuffed with it.
Ours, judging by the test footage shown, hits an adversary that is not buried in the ground. The explosion is volumetric, that is, it is unlikely to cause harm to the underground bunker. But we have other bombs for bunkers.
Who is stronger?
Our "dad"
Pros: a full-fledged weapon for battle not only with terrorists, but also with the regular army (carriers are Tu-95 and Tu-160 strategic bombers). Higher performance.
Cons: you can't call it a bomb precision weapons. Mainly due to the lack of an effective national satellite system.
Their "mother"
Cons: the main carrier is the old military transport Hercules. Can only be used where the enemy has no air defense. Simply put, against the partisans.
Pros: guided with satellite navigation, a powerful psychological weapon: the explosion resembles a “nuclear mushroom”. In the future, the Pentagon plans to arm the B-2 Stealth bomber with this bomb.
It turns out that the shells dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, despite all the terrifying consequences, were among the weakest nuclear bombs. Today we will show you 7 of the most destructive bombs ever created by man. 7. The Cold War is long over, and in the global legal framework there are agreements on the containment and non-proliferation of nuclear weapons, so countries are busy creating powerful non-nuclear bombs. One of them is the American GBU43/B, equipped with a satellite guidance system, which is also called the “Mother of all bombs”. Its mass is 9.5 tons, length is 9 meters, and the explosion power in TNT equivalent is 11 tons. This bomb was first manufactured in 2002, and a total of 17 pieces were produced. 6. The volumetric explosion ammunition or high-power aviation vacuum bomb was developed in Russia in 2007 and named, by analogy with the American one, “The Father of All Bombs.” Its weight is just over 7 tons, and its power is 44 tons. Despite the fact that this is the most powerful non-nuclear bomb in the world this moment , nominally its power is only 0.3% of the power of the American “Baby” dropped on Hiroshima. However, 30 such vacuum bombs are capable of destroying all life within a radius of 2 kilometers. 5. And this is the very first atomic bomb exploded on the planet, which marked the beginning of the nuclear era of mankind. On July 16, 1945, the first nuclear bomb, called "The Thing," was detonated in the desert aptly named "Dead Man's Route" in New Mexico. The bomb explosion was equivalent to approximately 21 kilotons of TNT. At that time, no one knew what consequences this explosion could lead to. Various assumptions were made, including the destruction of the state of New Mexico and the entire planet. 4. The US military actually tested atomic bombs on people, dropping shells on Hiroshima on August 6 and Nagasaki on August 9, 1945. Most of the victims of the explosions were not military personnel at all, but civilians. Children, women, old people - their bodies instantly turned into coal. Only silhouettes remained on the walls - this is how light radiation acted. Birds flying nearby burned in the air. The number of victims has not yet been accurately determined: many did not die immediately, but later, as a result of developing radiation sickness. "Little" with an estimated yield of 13 to 18 kilotons of TNT, dropped on Hiroshima, killed between 90 and 166 thousand people. In Nagasaki, “Fat Man” with a capacity of 21 kilotons of TNT ended the lives of 60 to 90 thousand people. 3. In 1962, on the territory of present-day Kazakhstan, with the help of a nuclear bomb, it was decided to make an artificial Lake Chagan. In the floodplain of one of the rivers, the military placed a 140-kiloton charge at a depth of about 200 meters. As a result of the explosion, about 10 million tons of soil rose into the air - approximately like the eruption of a small volcano. Just 4 years later, the Izvestia newspaper cheerfully reported that residents of nearby villages “swimmed with all their hearts” in the man-made lake. In fact, there was no miracle. The radiation level in the lake itself and its surroundings was too high. It was impossible to water livestock from there, and fish thrown into the water did not survive. It was reported that during the explosion, 11 settlements with a total population of about two thousand people were exposed to the destructive effects of radioactive radiation. 2. TX-21 or “Shrimp” - a thermonuclear bomb that the Americans detonated on March 1, 1954 on Bikini Atoll, part of the Marshall Islands. The estimated power of the charge was supposed to be 6 megatons, but scientists underestimated the bomb. As a result, the actual power of the explosion turned out to be more than twice as high - 15 megatons. By the way, this is 1000 times more than the bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The fireball from the Shrimp reached 5 kilometers in width. 1. The most powerful bomb ever built by man was created in the Soviet Union. Development was carried out from 1945 to 1961. Its official name is AN602, later it began to be called “Tsar Bomba” or “Kuzka’s Mother”. Its capacity in TNT equivalent was 50 megatons. The bomb was tested at the end of October 1961. The explosion was carried out in the air, four kilometers above Novaya Zemlya. The diameter of the fireball was more than 9 kilometers, the “mushroom” that grew at the site of the explosion reached 67 kilometers in height, and the diameter of its “cap” was approximately 95 kilometers. The impact of the bomb was felt by all the inhabitants of the planet without exception: the seismic wave formed as a result of the explosion circled the Earth three times. The surface of the island over which the Tsar Bomba exploded became as flat as a skating rink, not a single hill remained on it. In the village, which was located 400 km from the epicenter, all wooden buildings were completely destroyed. For comparison: the radius of destruction of the bomb dropped on Nagasaki was only 100 meters, and the radius of destruction of the “Tsar Bomb” was 4.5 kilometers.
A vacuum or thermobaric bomb is almost as powerful as nuclear weapons. But unlike the latter, its use does not threaten radiation and global environmental disaster.
Coal dust
The first test of a vacuum charge was carried out in 1943 by a group of German chemists led by Mario Zippermayr. The principle of operation of the device was suggested by accidents in flour mills and mines, where volumetric explosions often occur. That is why ordinary coal dust was used as an explosive. The fact is that by this time fascist Germany There was already a serious shortage of explosives, primarily TNT. However, this idea was not brought to actual production.
In fact, the term “vacuum bomb” is not technically correct. In reality, this is a classic thermobaric weapon in which fire spreads under high pressure. Like most explosives, it is a fuel-oxidizer premix. The difference is that in the first case, the explosion comes from a point source, and in the second, the flame front covers a significant volume. All this is accompanied by a powerful shock wave. For example, when a massive explosion occurred in an empty storage facility at an oil terminal in Hertfordshire (England) on December 11, 2005, people woke up 150 km from the epicenter to the sound of glass rattling in their windows.
Vietnam experience
Thermobaric weapons were first used in Vietnam to clear jungles, primarily for helipads. The effect was stunning. It was enough to drop three or four of these volumetric explosive devices, and the Iroquois helicopter could land in the most unexpected places for the partisans.
Essentially, these were 50-liter high-pressure cylinders with a braking parachute that opened at a height of thirty meters. About five meters from the ground, the squib destroyed the shell, and a gas cloud formed under pressure, which exploded. At the same time, the substances and mixtures used in air-fuel bombs were not anything special. These were ordinary methane, propane, acetylene, ethylene oxide and propylene.
It soon became clear experimentally that thermobaric weapons have enormous destructive force in confined spaces such as tunnels, caves, and bunkers, but not suitable in windy conditions, underwater or at high altitudes. There have been attempts to use Vietnam War large-caliber thermobaric shells, but they turned out to be ineffective.
Thermobaric death
On February 1, 2000, immediately after the next test of a thermobaric bomb, Human Rights Watch, a CIA expert, described its effect as follows: “The direction of the volumetric explosion is unique and extremely life-threatening. First, people in the affected area are affected by high pressure burning mixture, and then - a vacuum, actually a vacuum, tearing the lungs. All this is accompanied by severe burns, including internal ones, since many manage to inhale the fuel-oxidative premix.”
However, with light hand journalists called this weapon a vacuum bomb. Interestingly, in the 90s of the last century, some experts believed that people who died from a “vacuum bomb” seemed to be in space. They say that as a result of the explosion, oxygen instantly burned out, and for some time an absolute vacuum was formed. Thus, military expert Terry Garder from Jane's magazine reported on the use Russian troops"vacuum bomb" against Chechen militants near the village of Semashko. His report said that those killed had no external injuries and died from ruptured lungs.
Second after the atomic bomb
Just seven years later, on September 11, 2007, the thermobaric bomb was talked about as the most powerful non-nuclear weapon. “The test results of the created aviation munition showed that it is comparable in its effectiveness and capabilities to nuclear munitions,” he said former boss GOU, Colonel General Alexander Rukshin. We were talking about the most destructive innovative thermobaric weapon in the world.
New Russian aviation ammunition turned out to be four times more powerful than the largest American vacuum bomb. Pentagon experts immediately stated that the Russian data was exaggerated by at least twofold. And the press secretary of US President George W. Bush, Dana Perino, at a briefing on September 18, 2007, when asked how the Americans would respond to the Russian attack, said that this was the first time she had heard about it.
Meanwhile John Pike from think tank GlobalSecurity, I agree with the declared capacity that Alexander Rukshin spoke about. He wrote: “Russian military and scientists were pioneers in the development and use of thermobaric weapons. This new story weapons." If nuclear weapon is a priori a deterrent due to the possibility of radioactive contamination, then super-powerful thermobaric bombs, according to him, will certainly be used by “hot heads” of generals from different countries.
Inhumane killer
In 1976, the UN adopted a resolution calling explosive weapons “an inhumane means of warfare that causes excessive human suffering.” However, this document is not mandatory and does not directly prohibit the use thermobaric bombs. This is why from time to time there are reports in the media about “vacuum bombings”. So on August 6, 1982, an Israeli plane attacked Libyan troops with American-made thermobaric ammunition. And most recently, the Telegraph reported that the Syrian military used a high-explosive fuel-air bomb in the city of Raqqa, which killed 14 people. And although this attack was not carried out chemical weapons, international community requires a ban on use thermobaric weapons in cities.
On September 11, 2007, Russia successfully tested the world's most powerful non-nuclear weapon. The Tu-160 strategic bomber dropped a bomb weighing 7.1 tons and with a capacity of about 40 tons of TNT, with a guaranteed radius of destruction of all living things - more than three hundred meters. In Russia, this ammunition was nicknamed “The Father of All Bombs.” It belonged to the class of volumetric explosion ammunition.
The development and testing of a munition called the “Daddy of All Bombs” is the Russian response to the United States. Until this moment, the American GBU-43B MOAB bomb, which the developers themselves called the “Mother of all bombs,” was considered the most powerful non-nuclear munition. The Russian “father” surpassed “mom” in all respects. True, the American ammunition does not belong to the class of vacuum ammunition; it is a very ordinary land mine.
Today, volumetric explosion weapons are the second most powerful after nuclear ones. What is its operating principle based on? What explosive makes vacuum bombs equal in strength to thermonuclear monsters?
The principle of operation of volumetric explosion ammunition
Vacuum bombs or volumetric explosion ammunition (or volumetric detonating ammunition) are a type of ammunition that works on the principle of creating a volumetric explosion, known to mankind for many hundreds of years.
Operating principle of a vacuum bomb
In terms of their power, such ammunition is comparable to nuclear charges. But, unlike the latter, they do not have the factor of radiation contamination of the area and do not fall under any of the international conventions regarding weapons of mass destruction.
Man became acquainted with the phenomenon of volumetric explosion a long time ago. Similar explosions occurred quite often at flour mills, where tiny flour dust accumulated in the air, or at sugar factories. Such explosions in coal mines pose an even greater danger. Volumetric explosions are one of the most terrible dangers that await miners underground. Coal dust and methane gas accumulate in poorly ventilated faces. Even a small spark is enough to initiate a powerful explosion under such conditions.
A typical example of a volumetric explosion is the explosion of domestic gas in a room.
The physical principle of operation by which a vacuum bomb works is quite simple. It usually uses an explosive with a low boiling point, which easily turns into a gas even at low temperatures (for example, acetylene oxide). To create an artificial volumetric explosion, you simply need to create a cloud from a mixture of air and flammable material and set it on fire. But this is just in theory; in practice, this process is quite complicated.
At the center of the volumetric explosion munition is a small demolition charge, which consists of a conventional explosive (HE). Its functions include spraying the main charge, which quickly turns into a gas or aerosol and reacts with oxygen in the air. It is the latter that plays the role of an oxidizer, which is why a vacuum bomb is several times more powerful than a conventional bomb of the same mass.
The task of the demolition charge is to uniformly distribute the flammable gas or aerosol in space. Then a second charge comes into play, causing the cloud to detonate. Sometimes several charges are used. The delay between the activation of two charges is less than one second (150 ms).
The name “vacuum bomb” does not accurately reflect the principle of operation of this weapon. Yes, after the detonation of such a bomb, there really is a decrease in pressure, but we are not talking about any kind of vacuum. In general, volumetric explosion ammunition has already given rise to a large number of myths.
Various liquids (ethylene and propylene oxides, dimethylacetylene, propyl nitrite), as well as light metal powders (magnesium is most often used) are usually used as explosives in bulk ammunition.
How it works
When a volumetric explosion munition is detonated, a shock wave is generated, but it is much weaker than the explosion of a conventional explosive such as TNT. However, the shock wave from a volumetric explosion lasts much longer than from the detonation of conventional ammunition.
If we compare the effect of a conventional charge with a pedestrian being hit by a truck, then the effect of a shock wave during a volumetric explosion is a roller that will not only slowly pass over the victim, but will also stand on it.
However, the most mysterious damaging factor of bulk ammunition is the low-pressure wave that follows the shock front. There are a large number of conflicting opinions about its action. There is evidence that it is the low pressure zone that has the most destructive effect. However, this seems unlikely since the pressure drop is only 0.15 atmospheres.
Jumpers experience a short-term pressure drop of up to 0.5 atmospheres, and this does not lead to lung rupture or eyes falling out of their sockets.
Another feature makes volumetric explosion ammunition more effective and dangerous for the enemy. The blast wave after detonating such ammunition does not go around obstacles and is not reflected from them, but “flows” into every crack and shelter. Therefore, you definitely won’t be able to hide in a trench or dugout if an aircraft vacuum bomb is dropped on you.
The shock wave travels along the surface of the soil, so it is perfect for detonating anti-personnel and anti-tank mines.
Why didn't all ammunition become vacuum-sealed?
The effectiveness of volumetric explosion ammunition became obvious almost immediately after the start of their use. The detonation of ten gallons (32 liters) of atomized acetylene had the same effect as an explosion of 250 kg of TNT. Why haven't all modern ammunition become bulky?
The reason lies in the features of a volumetric explosion. Volumetric detonating ammunition has only one damaging factor - a shock wave. They produce neither cumulative nor fragmentation effects on the target.
In addition, their ability to destroy an obstacle is extremely low; they flow around it, since their explosion is of the “burning” type. However, in most cases, an explosion of the “detonation” type is required, which destroys obstacles in its path or throws them away.
An explosion of bulk ammunition is possible only in the air; it cannot be carried out in water or soil, since oxygen is needed to create a flammable cloud.
For the successful use of volumetric detonating ammunition, weather conditions are important, which determine the success of the formation of a gas cloud. There is no point in creating bulky small-caliber ammunition: aerial bombs weighing less than 100 kg and shells with a caliber of less than 220 mm.
In addition, for bulk ammunition, the trajectory of hitting the target is very important. They are most effective when hitting an object vertically. Slow-motion footage of the explosion of a bulk munition shows that the shock wave forms a toroidal cloud, best when it “spreads” along the ground.
History of creation and application
Volumetric explosion ammunition (like many other weapons) owes its birth to the evil German weapons genius. During the last world war, the Germans paid attention to the power of explosions that occur in coal mines. They tried to use the same physical principles to produce a new type of ammunition.
Nothing real came of it, and after the defeat of Germany, these developments went to the allies. They were forgotten for many decades. The Americans were the first to remember about volumetric explosions during the Vietnam War.
In Vietnam, the Americans made extensive use of combat helicopters, with which they supplied their troops and evacuated the wounded. The construction of landing sites in the jungle became a rather serious problem. Clearing an area for just one helicopter to land and take off required the hard work of an entire sapper platoon for 12-24 hours. It was not possible to clear the sites using conventional explosions, because they left behind huge craters. That’s when they remembered about volumetric explosion ammunition.
A combat helicopter could carry several similar ammunition on board, the explosion of each of them creating a platform quite suitable for landing.
The combat use of bulk ammunition also turned out to be very effective; they had a strong psychological effect on the Vietnamese. It was very difficult to hide from such an explosion even in a reliable dugout or bunker. The Americans successfully used volumetric explosion bombs to destroy partisans in tunnels. At the same time, the USSR began developing similar ammunition.
The Americans equipped their first bombs with various types of hydrocarbons: ethylene, acetylene, propane, propylene and others. In the USSR they experimented with a variety of metal powders.
However, the first generation volumetric explosion ammunition was quite demanding in terms of compliance with bombing rules; they were highly dependent on weather conditions and did not work well at subzero temperatures.
To develop second-generation ammunition, the Americans used a computer on which they simulated a volumetric explosion. At the end of the 70s of the last century, the UN adopted a convention banning these weapons, but this did not stop their development in the USA and the USSR.
Today, third-generation volumetric explosion ammunition has already been developed. Work in this direction is actively carried out in the USA, Germany, Israel, China, Japan and Russia.
"The Daddy of All Bombs"
It should be noted that Russia is among the states that have the most advanced developments in the field of creating volumetric explosion weapons. The high-power vacuum bomb tested in 2007 is a clear confirmation of this fact.
Until this time, the American GBU-43/B aerial bomb, weighing 9.5 tons and 10 meters long, was considered the most powerful non-nuclear munition. The Americans themselves considered this guided bomb not very effective. In their opinion, it is better to use cluster munitions against tanks and infantry. It should also be noted that the GBU-43/B is not a bulk ammunition; it contains conventional explosives.
In 2007, after testing, Russia adopted a high-power vacuum bomb. This development is kept secret; neither the abbreviation assigned to the ammunition nor the exact number of bombs in service with the Russian Armed Forces is known. It was stated that the power of this superbomb is 40-44 tons of TNT equivalent.
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