RFNA is a rocket fuel (a storeable oxidiser): red fuming nitric acid. HNO3 + 13% N2O4 and 3% H2O. The colour of the resulting red fuming nitric acid is imparted by N2O4, which breaks down partially to form NO2, the actual source of the color. Rocket fuel is the propellant which is burned to produce thrust in rockets. ... The chemical compound nitric acid (HNO3), otherwise known as aqua fortis, is a colorless, corrosive liquid, a toxic acid which can cause severe burns. ...
Usually used with an inhibitor (various, sometimes secret, substances - hydrogen flouride is one - it is then referred to as IRFNA) because HNO3 attacks most container materials. Hydrofluoric acid is a highly corrosive solution of the chemical compound hydrogen fluoride in water. ...
It can also be a monopropellant; with substances like ammonium nitrates dissolved in it, it can be used as the sole fuel in a rocket. It is not normally used this way however. A (usually liquid) rocket propellant that can be used by itself, without the need for a second component. ...
More at: http://www.astronautix.com/props/nitidjpx.htm
Most reported cases of severe illness from contact with nitrogen dioxide (one of the oxides in IRFNA fumes) derive from accidental exposures to explosion or combustion of nitroexplosives, nitric acid, the intermittent process of arc or gas welding (especially in a confined space), or entry into an unvented agricultural silo.
IRFNA in a military or wartime environment is not specifically addressed.
The Army’s only IRFNA monitoring and detection device was the multi-gas detector set, part of the Lance missile system, which was not used in the Gulf War.
An augmentation of the basic embodiment is achieved by combusting the fuel-rich GAP SFGG effluent with inhibited red fuming nitric acid (IRFNA) gel oxidizer to produce higher thrust during the boost and dash stages of a flight.
A capability to combust the fuel-rich GAP SFGG effluent with inhibited red fuming nitric acid (IRFNA) gel oxidizer, which produces higher thrust during the boost and dash stages of a rocket motor in flight, is employed to yield a correspondingly greater thrust than the lower pressure airbreathing sustain stage.
The IRFNA must be separated from the fuel-rich hot gases generated by the GAP SFGG after the GAP SFGG is ignited by any well known ignition means until the hypergolic reaction is desired.
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