Russia’s ‘Father Of All Bombs’, the most powerful non-nuclear weapon known

The Russian non-nuclear device dubbed the “Father Of All Bombs”. Picture source: YouTube  

It’s four times more powerful than the U.S.’s “Mother Of All Bombs”.

The U.S. on April 13, 2017 dropped its biggest non-nuclear device, the GBU-43 Massive Ordnance Air Blast bomb (MOAB, hence the nickname the Mother Of All Bombs) on Islamic State targets in Afghanistan. First tested in 2003, the bomb unleashes destructive power equivalent to 11 tonnes of TNT. But, it’s not the most powerful bomb in the world. Russia has a Father Of All Bombs, a far more destructive device.

What is the Father Of All Bombs?

Officially the Aviation Thermobaric Bomb of Increased Power, the ordnance is four times more powerful than the U.S. weapon. Unlike the MOAB, which uses conventional ordnance, the FOAB aka “Big Daddy” is Thermobaric — meant to burn its targets. It uses oxygen from the atmosphere, rather than carrying an oxidising agent in its explosives. It produces more energy than normal weapons but is harder to control. According to the Russian military the FOAB is equivalent to 44 tonnes of TNT compared to the U.S. device’s 11 tonnes.

How does it work?

Such devices generally detonate in two stages. First a small blast disperses a main load of explosive material into a cloud, which then either spontaneously ignites in air or is set off by a second charge. This explosion generates a pressure wave that reaches much further than that from a conventional explosive. The consumption of gases in the blast also 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 an incredibly high temperature. All that is alive merely evaporates," news agency Reuters reported in 2007 quoting Russian media reports.

When was it tested?

It was first tested on September 11, 2007. Russia’s military said the aviation vacuum bomb, also known as a fuel-air bomb, was the mightiest ever created.

What was the background to Russia’s announcement of the FOAB?

Russia’s announcement of the bomb came at a time of growing tension between Moscow and the West, and followed a tumultuous eight months in which Vladimir Putin denounced U.S. power, torn up a conventional arms agreement with NATO, and grabbed a large, if symbolic, chunk of the Arctic.

(With inputs from the Guardian and Reuters)

North Korea tells US to end military hysteria or face 'merciless' retaliation

PC: inuth.com

Pyongyang, April 15 (Reuters): North Korea warned the United States on Saturday to end its “military hysteria” or face retaliation as a US aircraft carrier group steamed towards the region and the reclusive state marked the “Day of the Sun”, the 105th birth anniversary of its founding father.

Concern has grown since the US Navy fired Tomahawk missiles at a Syrian airfield last week in response to a deadly gas attack. That raised questions about US President Donald Trump's plans for North Korea, which has conducted several missile and nuclear tests in defiance of UN and unilateral sanctions.

The North's warning came as leader Kim Jong Un, looking relaxing relaxed in a dark suit and laughing with aides, oversaw a military parade at Pyongyang's main Kim Il Sung square, named after his grandfather, on his birth anniversary.

Goose-stepping soldiers and marching bands filled the square, next to the Taedonggang River that flows through Pyongyang, in the hazy spring sunshine, followed by tanks, multiple launch rocket systems and other weapons.

Single-engine propeller-powered planes flew in a 105 formation overhead.

North Korea, still technically at war with the South after their 1950-53 conflict ended in a truce but not a treaty, has on occasion conducted missile or nuclear tests to coincide with big political events and often threatens the United States, South Korea and Japan.

”All the brigandish provocative moves of the US in the political, economic and military fields pursuant to its hostile policy toward the DPRK will thoroughly be foiled through the toughest counteraction of the army and people of the DPRK,” the KCNA state news agency said, citing a spokesman for the General Staff of the Korean People's Army.

DPRK stands for the official name of North Korea, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

”Our toughest counteraction against the US and its vassal forces will be taken in such a merciless manner as not to allow the aggressors to survive.”

KCNA said the Trump administration's “serious military hysteria” had reached a “dangerous phase, which can no longer be overlooked”.

The United States has warned that a policy of “strategic patience” with North Korea is over. US Vice-President Mike Pence travels to South Korea on Sunday on a long-planned 10-day trip to Asia.

State TV showed North Korea's Pukkuksong submarine-launched ballistic missiles on parade with tanks and other heavy machinery in front of Kim Jong Un. It was the first time North Korea had shown the missiles, which have a range of over 1000 km, at a military parade.

Displaying more than one of the missiles indicates North Korea is progressing with its plan to base a missile on a submarine, which are hard to detect, said Joshua Pollack, editor of the Washington-based Nonproliferation Review.

”It suggests a commitment to this programme,” said Pollack. ”Multiple SLBMs seems like a declaration of intent to advance the programme”.

Choe Ryong Hae, a close aide to Kim, addressed the packed square and iterated the warning to the United States.

”If the United States wages reckless provocation against us, our revolutionary power will instantly counter with annihilating strike, and we will respond to full-out war with full-out war and to nuclear war with our style of nuclear strike warfare,” he said.

China, North Korea's sole major ally and neighbour which nevertheless opposes its weapons programme, on Friday again called for talks to defuse the crisis.

North Korea on Friday denounced the United States for bringing “huge nuclear strategic assets” to the region as the USS Carl Vinson strike group with a flagship nuclear-powered aircraft carrier steamed closer.