Thermobaric bombs have grabbed headlines lately as fears grow that Russia will intensify its assault on Ukraine’s major cities. There is no confirmed evidence that the Russians have used them yet, but a CNN crew spotted thermobaric rocket launchers crossing into Ukraine in the war’s opening days. It is “a matter of time,” say some experts, including Dr. Marcus Hellyer of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, interviewed recently by the Guardian. Unlike conventional explosives that contain a mix of fuel and an oxidizer (such as black powder), thermobaric weapons are essentially 100% fuel.
Per the BBC, “A vacuum bomb, also called an aerosol bomb or fuel air explosive, consists of a fuel container with two separate explosive charges.” When it strikes the target, the primary charge scatters the aerosolized fuel, igniting a blast that sucks up all surrounding oxygen. The blast can vaporize human bodies if they are close enough, but the typical effects involve the lungs and other internal organs. The US developed airborne thermobaric bombs in the 1960s to counter Vietcong tunnel networks, but they were only tested on a limited basis in combat.
In 2001, the US was not shy about its use of thermobaric weapons against Taliban cave complexes in Tora Bora (per this contemporaneous CNN report). The Russians also tried thermobaric weapons in Afghanistan in the 1980s, and later in Syria. The weapons now play an expansive role in its modern arsenal. “Russia has systems right across the spectrum … from quite small tactical weapons to huge, air-launched bombs,” says Hellyer, who goes on to explain that Russian-backed separatists in Donbas have been using tactical thermobaric weapons for years.
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Kyiv is not Tora Bora. All buildings and even bomb shelters in urban areas are vulnerable. “One of the things we know about Russian tactics is that they are willing to destroy everything,” says Hellyer. Already, there is growing evidence of the use of cluster munitions, per Reuters. Russia (like the US) is a non-signatory to the international cluster munitions ban, and there are no restrictions on the use of thermobaric weapons. (More thermobaric stories.)
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