The Father of all Bombs

The Father of all Bombs

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By Ami Dor-On

_44111322_explosion_203While the US takes pride in its MOAB (Mother of all Bombs), the largest airborne bomb ever made, it turns out that the winner in the “who’s got the biggest in the world” contest is none other than Russia. Russian researchers designed the Father of all Bombs (FOAB) to stand up against the MOAB, and it does. The FOAB, according to scientific community, is four times stronger.

The FOAB is meant to replace small tactical nuclear bombs, and was successfully tested back in September 11th, 2007. And here are the FOAB’s terrifying specifications: It can be dropped by aircraft like the MOAB, a Tupolev or any cargo plane, contains only 7.8 tons of nanotechnology-based explosives developed by Russia, and has the destructive power off 44 tons of TNT. It deals with two main types of damage: The explosion causes a blast wave faster than sound, and the temperature in the center of the blast is twice as high as that caused by TNT. Russian top military official Alexander Rushkin explained that the FOAB is smaller than its American cousin, but much deadlier. In order to avoid any misunderstanding, Rushkin added that “any living thing in the blast area is simply vaporized.”

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This type of airborne weapon, its destructive capabilities are second only to nuclear weapons, it’s called “Aviation Thermobaric Bomb of Increased Power,” or ATBIP. In other words, it’s a heat/pressure bomb. Like an atomic bomb it detonates in the air, before hitting the ground, and that’s why its power is comparable to that of a tactical nuke. Most of the damage from the blast is caused by a supersonic blast wave, and a double powered explosion compared to TNT bombs. The primary blast radius of the FOAB is 600 meters, including penetration of underground bunkers, compared to the MOAB’s 300 meters primary blast radius. The temperatures of the explosion reaches 2,500-3,000 degrees Celsius, and the speed of the blast wave reaches 3.2 kilometers per second, or around 11,500 kilometers per second.

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American experts believe the Russians may have exaggerated when describing the FOAB’s capabilities. Tom Berky, an expert in the field of large-scale bombs, says it might not even be a thermobaric bomb, just an explosive device using a mixture of fuel and air. Another American researcher, Phillip Coyle, estimates that the FOAB is stronger than the MOAB, but is not even close to being four times as strong – maybe just 50% stronger.