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How Does the Most Powerful Non-nuclear Weapon Ever Designed Work?It can obliterate underground bunkers and an area as large as nine city blocks |
By Lucian Dorneanu, Science Editor
29th of June 2007, 15:22 GMT
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It's called MOAB Massive Ordnance Air Blast, or GBU-43/B, but the most familiar description is Mother Of All Bombs. This is truly the most powerful non-nuclear weapon ever designed and is only delivered by a Lockheed C-130 Hercules, the main tactical carrier for many military forces worldwide.
The result of a top secret project that began in 2002 at the Air Force Research Laboratory, its sheer size may already give you an
idea of the massive destructive power it packs. The bomb is 9.17 meters (30 ft) long, it has a diameter of 1.3 meters (40.5 in) and weighs a whopping 9.5 metric tons (21,000 lbs).
That is four times heavier than an armored Humvee, the official US Army troops carrier, which is "only" 2.3 tons (5,200 lbs) including the heavy armor. More than 90% of the total mass of the MOAB is occupied by high explosives, that has a blast radius of 137 meters (450 ft).
If this radius seems small to you, you might want to consider the full effects of the massive shockwave created by the air burst, which can blow a nine-city blocks area to smithereens. The standard block in Manhattan is about 264 feet by 900 feet (about 80 meters by 271 meters).
Dropped out of the Hercules cargo plane, (it uses a parachute to pull out of the cargo door), it guides itself via GPS to the target with extreme accuracy, leaving the enemies little or no time to get to safety.
As an explosive, the bomb uses 8,482 kilograms (18,700 pounds) of H-6, a highly explosive mixture of RDX (Cyclotrimethylene trinitramine), TNT and aluminum that can also detonate underwater, due to the oxygen atoms in its molecule, producing an effect that has often been compared to that of a nuclear weapon.
Actually, it's only about one thousandth of the power of the nuclear bomb used to bomb Hiroshima in World War II, but it's the most powerful conventional bomb ever produced.
In addition to the obvious destructive effect, the MOAB also has a psychological one, producing fear in the hearts of the fiercest enemies. This has been proven by a simple test performed by the US Air Force, when the footage of an explosion was shown to two test groups, one made of nuclear scientists and one made of military personnel.
All personnel not directly involved with nuclear weapons research immediately identified the explosion as a nuclear blast, so most enemies will be instantaneously looking forward to peace negotiations. Or not...
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Good (3.1/5) |
7 vote(s) so far |
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User opinions: |
| Comment #1 by: shakal on 23 Mar 2008, 05:20 GMT |  reply to this comment | let's hope we nerver have to use it. |
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