I read in the Moscow Times that the russians have developed a new non nuclear bombs capaple of a blast radius of 300 meters and it has about as much power as 44,000 tons of TNT.
Its a Fuel/ Air bomb. Like the U.S. M.O.A.B. , only perhaps larger. The original thought for fuel air weapons was for clearing mine fields, the fuel cloud spreads out over a large area, and when the air fuel mix is correct, it is detonated, causing a huge shockwave that is supposed to set off all of the mines, kill concealed troops, etc, clearing a path for advancement through the field. It may be large, but it is older technology.(but still impressive to see. Geezer like big Boom!)
Thank goodness it’s nuclear free…green boms are the only way to go!
Snigger. A 44kT nuclear weapon has a FIREBALL diameter of about 300 metres and the blast alone will cause 99% fatalities out to 600m.
I can buy a 300m blast zone (not particularly impressive for an unguided weapon, and uselessly powerful for a guided one, but that’s by the by), but not a 44kT equivalent.
I believe the claim is that the ‘Vacuum Bomb’ will kill everything within a 3Km radius.
ROTFLMAO. To get that sort of kill range from blast alone you need something like a 10 Megatonne device!
Come on PDF, are you saying the Russians are lying here?
Actually I think they translated it wrong and its 300 meters.
Not all Russians, just the press. Quite a lot of people seem willing to accept those numbers without even a sanity check…
As the defence commentors said on the BBC, the things useless as a weapon against all but the most primitive enemies. Because it is unguided and needs to be dropped out of a bomber.
It is usefull against the concentrated nemy troops and light armored veicles and light housing.
One similar device dropped on the insurgents in Dagestan eliminated 150 - 200 in one short blow.
Hello friends.
More correctly the new Vacuum Bomb has a less weight then the M.O.A.B!!!( 7.100 kg Vs 8.200 kg). But much more effective radius of hiting -300 metres vs 150 MOAB.
Besides the new bomb has a two times more the temperature in the centre.
The overal power of the bomb is FOUR times more then the MOAB.
…at least as it told the our brave generals and ingeneers;)
However this ammunition could be useful in the new circumstances agains the terrorists - no radioactive soiling.
Cheers.
Moscow news …;)44 000 tonns 
Dorr you better never reat this Russian propogandic Moscow news;)
I remember as in the soviet school the our English teacher forced to read the MN in inglish to learn the lenguages.Coz MN was ALWAYS politically right newspaper and reflected the official Soviet position toward the World Imperialism and Zionism;)
The equvalent weight of the New VAcuum bomb IS roughtly 40 000 killograms of TNT ( not tonns).
Cheers.
I personally agree with Chevan about the proposes such a weapon could have in the modern times - but i also agree with bas and think that precise and guided weapons are more useful, unsless you fight against a whole organised army.
So this bomb is just in the line of evolution of fuel bombs, but i think guided air-ground weapons will lead the way in the future, unless how powerfull unguided air-ground weapons are. Unguided air-ground weapons will be/are used as psychologic weapons (remember those B52 bombers with this crapload of bombs!)
But Vacuum Bomb - sounds quite cool in my honest opinion ^^
Thing about big bombs is that blast moves in three dimensions, so blast effectiveness varies with the cube root of blast power. Hence, dropping twenty eight 250kg bombs will have roughly 9 times the explosive effect on a target of a single 7,000kg bomb. The only exception to this is for very, very hard targets where you need a direct hit from a very powerful bomb - and for these things how deeply buried in the target the bomb is counts for more than sheer explosive power.
As you may have guessed by now, I’m a tad sceptical that this weapon has any practical uses whatsoever.
Well, could be, I just like the big Boom. The U.S. has used larger Fuel/Air bombs, they work better than the older “Pallet Bombs” . The problem with those was that deployment required our people to be closer than we would like to hostile forces , so the M.O.A.B. was developed to provide a goodly amount of stand off between delivery aircraft, and target. Our guys safe, and big Boom on target. goodness Gracious, Great Balls of Fire!!
i 'm agree with you now !!!
The tactical military application of such great devices is very limited.
However it could be very effective in the cases that you’ve wrote.
The real plus of this device is the new “nano-tachnoligy” of the explosion substance that could use for the production of the less vacuum bombs (FAB-500 or like that).
Those new little bombs could be more effective and more cheap.
The demonstration of this “Father of all bombs” ( as it was called by the russian generals)
has the PURELY political and propogandic aims- to show the wold ( and domestic) public of the Power of the New Rusian Weaponry;)
Like in OLD good times of cold war when we with american continiously competed in the “Higher, bigger, further” fascinating political game.
We called it Gigantomania;)
Whay we did it - is not importain -coz americans did it.
For instance the huge number of the soviet military projects was bagan of such REASON;)
Nothing serious, just kiddish…
I told you 200 insurgents kaboomed in 1 blow. It all depends on the target type.
Chances are a single cluster bomb would do the same thing, far more cheaply and can be carried by more delivery platforms.
No , the cluster bombs is not fully equal for the Vacuum Thermobaric bomb that used the atmospheric oxygen for detonation of explosion substance.
The ONLY Vacuum bomb reach the so hight temperature in the area of explosion and has a such total damaging effect for the hidden infantry in a so great area.
I think that underlines a problem with US military doctrine.
Too much reliance on equipment or ordnance to achieve a result, which distracts doctrine from the unfortunate fact that until a soldier stands somewhere with his heel on the ground, it ain’t ground that’s been taken.
Infantry mightn’t win wars but, by God, it finishes them.