American Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition Edward Aldridge said that a new U.S. bomb is being sent for use in Afghanistan. The weapon, which is called a thermobaric bomb, can kill al-Qaeda fighters hiding in caves by sucking out all the oxygen.
The new bomb uses a special type of fuel-rich explosive in its warhead that is more powerful than conventional bombs. Regular bombs use an explosive that includes the oxygen needed for any fire to work. But the thermobaric bomb uses an explosive that has only fuel, and draws oxygen for the explosion from the surrounding air. This creates a much more powerful blast for the same weight of explosive, and also has a side effect that the American forces could find very useful in Afghanistan.
Because it carries no oxygen of its own, when a thermobaric bomb explodes it sucks up the oxygen in its surroundings. If such an explosion occurs in a cave system, it will use up all the oxygen inside instantaneously. Any fighters hidden in the cave will die of suffocation even if they are far away from the blast. Other effects of the bomb include a wave of high pressure and temperatures surging throughout the surrounding caves and tunnels.
Using laser guided bombs to deliver the explosive will allow the American forces to bomb precisely the entrances to the tunnels or the caves themselves. Much as in the 1991 Gulf War, unseen aircraft will be able to hit tiny targets with unbelievable precision. One of the new bombs was recently tested in Nevada, where laser guidance was used to drop the bomb directly into a tunnel. Using a delay fuse, the bomb went off only after it had penetrated into the tunnel, and its effects were devastating.
With the U.S. believing that Bin Laden and the al-Qaeda fighters are hiding in cave complexes in the Afghanistan mountains, the intended use for the new bomb is starkly apparent. (www.albawaba.com)
Illustration credit FAS
