A thermobaric bomb is an unusual type of explosive, that doesn't incorporate oxygen molecules, thus requiring atmospheric oxygen. Sometimes called fuel-air explosives, the name comes from Greek and literally means "heat" and "pressure."

The most interesting thing about this bomb is the fact that it actually produces two blasts, the first being the dispersion of a cloud of liquid or powder explosive using a small detonating charge, and then the main explosion, when a second charge ignites the cloud, producing the actual deflagration.

The advantage of this bomb is the fact that it combines the power of both forces, intense heat and huge pressure, to destroy even the most inaccessible targets. It's not more than a mix of a monopropellant fuel explosive and a highly energetic material, like powdered aluminum.

Being an ideal package of two crushing forces, even on their own, condensed in a tight space, the thermobaric bomb is ideal for blasting underground targets, like army bunkers and missile silos, while at the same time limiting collateral damage.

The intense concentrated fireball combined with devastating blast overpressure destroyed a large one-story masonry type building in Iraq in only one round, coming from a Shoulder-Launched Multipurpose Assault Weapon-Novel Explosion (SMAW-NE), from a distance of 100 yards (91 meters).

Such bombs were also used by the Russian military in the Second Chechen War, when they attacked the capital, Grozny. They reported that a single round in an urban environment has a destructive force equivalent to a 152 mm artillery round, among the biggest used in modern wars around the world.