Weapons of the Future - Volumetric Explosion Bombs
The twentieth century was the century of the birth of a nuclear bomb, but the excitement and enthusiasm about this quickly subsided when mankind realized the threat that they carry. Indeed, in addition to the destruction that occurs during its explosion, it also leaves behind radioactive contamination because of which the territories where the explosion occurred will be uninhabitable for dozens or even hundreds of years. This makes a nuclear bomb an almost useless tool if the enemy is already on your territory, and this is exactly what prompted scientists to develop new types of bombs that are not inferior in power but are not sources of radiation danger. At the moment, in these studies, Russia has advanced the furthest, and it is there that it has the most powerful of the non-nuclear bombs, the so-called volume explosion bomb, sometimes mistakenly called a vacuum bomb.
The principle of operation of a volumetric explosion bomb is significantly different from that of a conventional bomb. These warheads do not use solid explosive, but gaseous, which makes it 5-6 times more powerful than usual. When the bomb reaches the required height, this gaseous substance is sprayed and when the cloud of gas reaches its maximum size, a detonator is triggered, which leads to an explosion. The explosion forms a shock wave, behind which air is rarefied (a low pressure zone is created), then the surrounding air is directed to a low pressure zone, due to which a second shock wave is formed, even stronger than the first one. In addition to the shock wave, the factors affecting the explosion of a volume explosion bomb are: high temperature and burnout in a large amount of oxygen. Thus, no vacuum is created at the site of the explosion, therefore it is wrong to call this type of vacuum charge, as is often stated in the press.
As mentioned above, Russia has the most powerful such bomb, the successful tests of which occurred in the 2007 year. Its official name is still classified as the most information about it, and in the Russian media it is called the “Father of all bombs” (by analogy with the most powerful American GBU-43 / B until recently, “Mother of All Bombs”). The power of the Russian bomb is about 44 tons in TNT equivalent, and the guaranteed damage radius is about 300 meters. According to these parameters, it is several times larger than the American GBU-43 / B and therefore the information appearing from time to time that the CIA is actively interested in our bomb seems quite real.
But for all its merits, the volume explosion bombs have several disadvantages. So, because of the large mass, the only means of its delivery are heavy bombers, which means that the bomb can be destroyed both directly with the aircraft and during the descent to the ground. However, work to reduce the mass of the bomb is already underway and it is likely that in the next 5-10 years the warhead will be able to be placed in a rocket, which will significantly increase the chances of its guaranteed delivery to the explosion site.
In addition, this bomb also depends on meteorological conditions, for example, with a strong wind, its power is somewhat reduced. But, despite these shortcomings, it is obvious that with the current trend towards nuclear disarmament, a volume explosion bomb is exactly that kind weaponswhich in the future will allow maintaining parity in the military potential of the largest countries of the world. And since at the moment Russia is in this direction ahead of the rest of the world, it is necessary to continue working further with double the force.
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