Thermobaric weapons distinguish themselves from conventional weapons by using atmospheric oxygen, instead of carrying an oxidizer in their explosives. They are also called high-impulse thermobaric weapons (HITs), fuel-air explosives (FAE or FAX), "heat and pressure" weapons, or vacuum bombs. A conventional weapon is a weapon that does not incorporate chemical, biological or nuclear payloads. ... The most fundamental reactions in chemistry are the redox processes. ... This article is concerned solely with chemical explosives. ... A high-impulse thermobaric weapon (HIT), also known as a fuel-air explosive (FAE or FAX), a heat and pressure weapon, or a vacuum bomb, consists of a container of a volatile liquid, in some designs including a finely powdered explosive component as a slurry, and (typically) two separate explosive... The bayonet, still used in war as both knife and spearpoint. ...

They produce more explosive energy from a smaller package than other explosives.

Thermobaric weapons work by first expelling a cloud of explosive mist using a small charge, then igniting it with a second charge.

A thermobaric weapon consists of a container of a volatile liquid, in some designs including a finely powdered explosive component as a slurry, and (typically) two separate explosive charges. After the munition is dropped or fired, the first explosive charge (or some other dispersal mechanism) bursts open the container at a predetermined height and disperses the fuel in a cloud that mixes with atmospheric oxygen. Once the fuel is appropriately mixed, the second charge detonates, propagating an explosion (blast wave) through the cloud. This article is concerned solely with chemical explosives. ... A slurry is sloppy mixture, which comes in different varieties: In farming—perhaps the most well-known use—farm slurry is a fertiliser composed chiefly of water and animal sewage. ... General Name, Symbol, Number oxygen, O, 8 Chemical series nonmetals Group, Period, Block 16, 2, p Appearance colorless Atomic mass 15. ...

An accidental fuel-air explosion may occur as a result of a Boiling Liquid Expanding Vapor Explosion, for example when a tank containing liquified petroleum gas bursts. Silo explosions, caused by the ignition of finely-powdered atmospheric dust, are another example. BLEVE, pronounced blevy, is an acronym for Boiling Liquid Expanding Vapor Explosion. ... Liquified petroleum gas (also called liquefied petroleum gas, liquid petroleum gas, LPG, LP gas, or autogas) is a mixture of hydrocarbon gases used as a fuel in heating appliances and vehicles, and increasingly replacing fluorocarbons as an aerosol propellant and a refrigerant to reduce damage to the ozone layer. ... This article is about grain elevators. ... For the fictional fundamental particle in Philip Pullmans His Dark Materials, see Dust (His Dark Materials). ...

Note on terminology

From the open literature it appears that some experts draw a distinction between the terms thermobaric weapon and fuel-air explosive based on the primary intended effects: "thermobaric" relating to closed-zone convection or air displacement as the primary objective, and "fuel-air" for use as area-denial or "daisy cutter"–like ordnance through blast and combustion, in a role somewhat similar to that of cluster bomb weapons. Other sources use "fuel-air" as the general case, subsuming "thermobaric" as previously detailed; still others use the two terms interchangeably. The term "thermobaric" appears to be of Russian/Soviet origin. A 15,000lb BLU-82/B on display at the USAF museum The BLU-82 daisy cutter is a bomb used by the US Military, specifically the USAF. The origins of the name daisy cutter (which is an understatement, see daisy) are disputed. ... Cluster bomb exploding A cluster bomb is an air-dropped bomb that ejects multiple small submunitions (bomblets). ...

Weapon effects

The blast wave destroys unreinforced buildings and equipment and kills and injures personnel. The antipersonnel effect of the blast wave is more severe in foxholes, on personnel with body armor, and in "stiff" enclosed spaces such as caves, buildings, and bunkers.

The overpressure within the detonation can reach 3 MPa (430 lbf/in²) and the temperature can be 2500 to 3000 °C. Outside the cloud the blast wave travels at over 3 km/s. This blast wave leaves behind a vacuum. This vacuum then pulls in loose objects. Perhaps more seriously, it draws in the unexploded burning fuel to create almost complete penetration of all non-airtight objects within the blast radius, which are then incinerated. Asphyxiation and internal damage can also occur to personnel outside the highest blast effect zone, e.g. in deeper tunnels, as a result of the blast wave, the heat, or the following air draw. MPA is a TLA that may mean: MasterPaulAnne Macedonian Press Agency Marine Protected Area Maryland and Pennsylvania Railroad (AAR reporting mark MPA) Master of Public Administration Motion Picture Association Morgan_Park_Academy This page concerning a three-letter acronym or abbreviation is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages... Asphyxia is a condition of severely deficient supply of oxygen to the body. ...

The effects produced by FAEs (a long high duration pressure and heat impulse) are often likened to the effects produced by low-yield nuclear weapons, but without the problems of radiation—although this is inexact; for all current and foreseen subkiloton yield nuclear weapon designs, prompt radiation effects predominate, producing some secondary heating—very little of the nominal yield is actually delivered as blast. The significant injury dealt by either weapon on a targeted population is nonetheless great. The mushroom cloud of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki, Japan, 1945, rose some 18 km (11 mi) above the hypocenter. ... Ionizing radiation is a type of particle radiation in which an individual particle (for example, a photon, electron, or helium nucleus) carries enough energy to ionize an atom or molecule (that is, to completely remove an electron from its orbit). ... A megaton or megatonne is a unit of mass equal to 1,000,000 metric tons, i. ... The first nuclear weapons, though large, cumbersome and inefficient, provided the basic design building blocks of all future weapons. ...

Some fuels used, such as ethylene oxide and propylene oxide, are highly toxic. A device using such fuels is very dangerous even if the fuel fails to ignite; the device then becomes essentially a chemical weapon. The chemical compound ethylene oxide is an important industrial chemical used as an intermediate in the production of ethylene glycol and other chemicals, and as a sterilant for foodstuffs and medical supplies. ... Propylene oxide is a highly toxic flammable chemical compound. ... Dressing the wounded during a gas attack by Austin O. Spare, 1918. ...

History

RPO-A Shmel

Arguably, the use of flamethrowers in the trench warfare of World War I (the flamethrower was a German invention) could constitute the first use of a primitive "vacuum weapon", in that they could suffocate people protected from the direct weapon effects inside a pillbox or bunker. Other such effects were seen to occur in the firestorms at Dresden and elsewhere. German troops use a flamethrower on the Eastern Front during the Second World War A flamethrower is a mechanical device designed to throw flames or, more correctly, project an ignited stream of liquid. ... World War I was primarily a European conflict with many facets: immense human sacrifice, stalemate trench warfare, and the use of new, devastating weapons - tanks, aircraft, machineguns, and poison gas. ... A bunker is a defensive warfare fortification to protect oneself. ... Brühls Terrace Brühlsche Terrasse and the Frauenkirche   Dresden? IPA: is the capital city of the German federal state of Saxony, is situated in a valley on the river Elbe. ...

In the form that exists today, these devices (often dubbed Fuel-Air Munitions) are said to have been developed in the 1960s and used by the United States during the Vietnam War to destroy Viet Cong tunnels, clear forest for helicopter landing sites and to clear minefields. However, it is not clear that this is entirely the case; in particular, the very large parachute-delivered "Daisy Cutter" bomb used for this purpose was suspected to have been such a weapon but the current published details indicate that it was not (it seems to be filled with ANFO, a mixture of ammonium nitrate and jet fuel, instead). FAMs are certainly in published literature available to English-speaking readers by the mid-1970s (Cite to come). The 1960s, or The Sixties, in its most obvious sense refers to the decade between 1960 and 1969, but the expression has taken on a wider meaning over the past twenty years. ... The Vietnam War or Second Indochina War was a conflict between the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRVN, or North Vietnam), allied with the National Liberation Front (NLF, or Viet Cong) against the Republic of Vietnam (RVN, or South Vietnam), and their allies—notably the United States military in support of... A Viet Cong soldier, heavily guarded, awaits interrogation following capture in the attacks on Saigon during the festive Tet holiday period of 1968. ... A landmine is a type of mine which is placed onto or into the ground and explodes when triggered by a vehicle or person. ... A 15,000lb BLU-82/B on display at the USAF museum The BLU-82 daisy cutter is a bomb used by the US Military, specifically the USAF. The origins of the name daisy cutter (which is an understatement, see daisy) are disputed. ... ANFO stands for Ammonium Nitrate / Fuel Oil (most often diesel fuel, sometimes kerosene). ... The chemical compound ammonium nitrate, the nitrate of ammonia with chemical formula NH4NO3, is commonly used in agriculture as a high-nitrogen fertilizer. ... Kerosene or paraffin (not the same as the waxy solid of that name) is a colorless flammable hydrocarbon liquid. ...

The Soviet armed forces also developed FAE weapons, including thermobaric warheads for shoulder-launched RPGs (RPO-A Shmel Bumblebee). Russian forces have a wide array of these weapons ([1]) and reportedly used them against Chinese forces in a 1969 border conflict, and certainly used them in Afghanistan and in Chechnya. State motto: Пролетарии всех стран, соединяйтесь! (transliteration: Proletarii vsekh stran, soedinyaytes!) (Russian: Workers of the world, unite!) Official language None; Russian (de facto) Capital Moscow Area  - Total  - % water 1st before collapse 22,402,200 km²  ?% Population  - Total  - Density 3rd before collapse 293,047,571 (July 1991) 13. ... Ruchnoi Protivotankovye Granatamyot (RPG) or (Cyrillic) Ручной противотанковый гранатомет (РПГ). Often mistakenly called a Rocket Propelled Grenade in the West, RPG is the Russian acronym for Ruchnoi (Handheld), Protivotankovye (Anti-Tank), Granatamyot (Grenade Launcher). The RPG is a hand-held, shoulder-launched anti-tank weapon capable of firing an unguided rocket containing an explosive... 1969 was a common year starting on Wednesday For other uses, see Number 1969. ... The Chechen Republic (Chechen: Нохчийн Республика/Noxçiyn [Nokhchiyn] Respublika, Russian: Чеченская Республика), informal Chechnya (Chechen: Нохчичьо/Noxçiyçö/Nokhchiyno, Russian: Чечня), Ichkeria, Chechnia or Chechenia, is currently a constituent republic of the Russian Federation. ...

An FAE system from Israel was developed for minefield clearing. The system uses a small rocket propelled thermobaric charge which explodes over the minefield and activates exposed or buried mines. A landmine is a type of mine which is placed onto or into the ground and explodes when triggered by a vehicle or person. ...

Thermobaric weapons in fiction

The bomb once threatened to be used at the end of the movie Outbreak, starring Dustin Hoffman and Rene Russo was described as a fuel-air explosive. The 1995 film Outbreak stars Dustin Hoffman, Rene Russo, Morgan Freeman, Kevin Spacey, Cuba Gooding Jr. ... Dustin Hoffman Hoffman with Ben Stiller in 2004s Meet the Fockers. ... Rene Russo Rene Russo (born February 17, 1954 in Burbank, California, USA) is an American film actress and model. ...

A fuel-air bomb is the most powerful air strike in the game Mercenaries: Playground of Destruction.

External links

• Thermobaric warhead for RPG-7

• Defense Update: Fuel-Air Explosive Mine Clearing System

• Foreign Military Studies Office - A 'Crushing' Victory: Fuel-Air Explosives and Grozny 2000