Enter the MOAB (1 Viewer)

[Chuck Mayer]

Today, the Air Force tested the largest conventional bomb to exist in the U.S. arsenal.

The MOAB
Massive Ordnance Air Blast

nicknamed

Mother of all Bombs

Video should be available from a chase plane on the evening news.

It's 40% bigger than the infamous Daisy Cutter.

Interesting.

Take care,
Chuck

 

[Don Black]

All the fun of a tactical nuke with none of that messy radiation... Sigh... LOL.

 

[Dennis Nicholls]

Isn't "Moab" the biblical name for somewhere around Palistine?

 

[Jack Briggs]

In terms of yield, how does this fascinating weapon compare with a smaller nuclear device? There was nothing in the MSNBC story indicating whether the blast was in the kiloton range or what. Very, very interesting.

 

[David-S]

Well, this was 18,000 lbs of explosive, and it's tritonal (which is more powerful than the typical "TNT" used, but i don't know by how much), so at most say 9-50 (100 at the outside) "tons" of TNT...

The original bomb dropped on Hiroshima had a yield of 15 kilotons, so that's a fair bit more, even then it's still 1500 to 150 times LESS powerful than the Hiroshima bomb...

 

[Matt Stryker]

? There was nothing in the MSNBC story indicating whether the blast was in the kiloton range or what.

If its using tritonal (which is about 80% TNT and aluminum powder) , it would work out to less than a 0.01 Kt yield I would think (after accounting for the weight of the bomb casing).

One of the tests they did before Trinity was a giant tower of TNT that approached 0.1 Kt of yield...it left a pretty spectacular crater. And I've seen some of the footage of the Big BLU-82 in Vietnam, and that thing left a pretty big footprint.

If they really wanted to scare the Iraqis, they'd come up with a 21000 lb FAE (fuel air explosive) bomb. Those things are positively nasty: http://www.nawcwpns.navy.mil/clmf/faeseq.html
http://www.globalsecurity.org/milita...itions/fae.htm

EDIT: The stories out yesterday indicated the bomb WAS using tritonal, but now they are saying its an FAE. Impressive nonetheless. The video is probably a little misleading, since there really isn't anything to scale the explosion to (a house, a water tower, etc).

The worst effects of FAEs are on people. The sudden detonation of all that fuel causes the fire to suck all the oxygen out of the surrounding area, including in some cases actually sucking peoples lungs out of their mouths. That certainly doesn't sound plesant.

 

[Ted Lee]

man, what a beast!

perfect example for the phrase, "your tax dollars at work".

i gotta admit, it's tough to mess with america when it comes to military technology. with stuff like this in our arsenal who's gonna argue with us?

 

[Carlo_M]

A fuel bomb in today's gas market economy?

 

[Jack Briggs]

The explosion looked remarkable similar to a nuke, too. I have a DVD copy of Beyond Trinity: The Atomic Bomb Movie. Fascinating stuff!

 

[CharlesD]

with stuff like this in our arsenal who's gonna argue with us?

Just about everybody apparently!

I thought this MOAB thing was a type of FAE bomb?

 

[Steve Christou]

The MOAB is guided by global positioning satellites. It spreads a flammable mist over the target, then ignites it, producing a highly destructive blast.

Military officials gave the acronym as "Massive Ordnance Air Blast" or "Massive Ordnance Air Burst" but they have nicknamed it the "Mother Of All Bombs."

The power of the 10.5-ton MOAB bomb falls far short of that generated by nuclear weapons, however.

The Daisy Cutter, used in Vietnam to clear swatches of jungle for helicopter landing sites, is a "dumb" bomb dropped directly over the target. The MOAB is more precise, relying on the satellite positioning system to hit its mark.

So the MOAB is not a "dumb" bomb, it's a clever bomb, intriguing, hmmm if its more easier to produce than a nuclear bomb lets hope it doesn't one day fall into the wrong hands.

 

[Dennis Nicholls]

It spreads a flammable mist over the target, then ignites it,

I think that's the definition of an FAE.

 

[Brandon_T]

In terms of yield, how does this fascinating weapon compare with a smaller nuclear device? There was nothing in the MSNBC story indicating whether the blast was in the kiloton range or what. Very, very interesting.

From what I have been reading about the MOAB is that it is also something of a psychological weapon. Part of the idea behind it is to give a mushroom cloud just like a nuke and make the enemy think that a nuke was dropped. Then they would be more proned to surrender. I am sure it is quite destructive, but this is an interesting angle on the bomb.

 

[nousername]

A little off topic but... I also have Beyond Trinity: The Atomic Bomb Movie, and it is indeed fascinating (as well as scary). But the scariest footage of nuclear blasts I've seen is from a Discovery Channel documentary a few years back called "The Red Bomb".

It was about how the Soviets developed their own atomic and hydrogen bombs, and these were in the multi-megaton range (I think the highest was about 50 megatons). The images were horrifying, as they showed how the bombs incinerated large nearby farm animals, blew up buildings miles away, and how radiation sickness affected the poor farmers who lived in relative proximity to the blasts. In fact, these tests were so horrific that it convinced several Soviet nuclear scientists to plead for a moratorium of above-ground nuclear tests and even a banishment of all such weapons.

I think a demonstration of a bomb such as the MOAB (or even an atomic bomb) is a good way of preventing a war from starting. Better to do this than actually use it on people. Hopefully, the enemy would be scared enough that they wouldn't think about entering a war after seeing such a demonstration, but I think in Saddam's case, he'd rather risk having all his people killed than surrender. He's a mad man, after all.

Hey, maybe they should film the blast in IMAX format and let them see the awesome destruction of the MOAB. Maybe then they'll disarm on the spot. In fact, wouldn't an atomic bomb test be a good subject for an IMAX film? Can you imagine how many subwoofers would be destroyed by the soundtrack? But seriously, I think such a film would convince people all over the world to plead for the ban of all nuclear weapons.

 

[Philip Hamm]

If its using tritonal (which is about 80% TNT and aluminum powder) , it would work out to less than a 0.01 Kt yield I would think (after accounting for the weight of the bomb casing).

That would make this blast the size of the yield of the Davy Crocket tactical nuke that was deployed by the US army through the 60s and 70s then. 0.01 Mt is the explosion resulting from the smallest possible critical mass that can sustain the fission reaction. Actually, the now defunkt Davy Crocket is remarkably similar the "nukes" portrayed in the movie "Starship Troopers".

 

[Patrick Sun]

Some town in Utah with the name "Moab" is looking to sue for lost tourism dollars.

 

[Dennis Nicholls]

Looks more like "Moab-y Dick" to me.....

Perhaps the new device has already begun to have an effect:
http://www.sundaymirror.co.uk/news/n...&siteid=106694

 

[Mike Lenthol]

The motley band of a dozen troops waved the white flag as British paratroopers tested their weapons during a routine exercise.

The stunned Paras from 16 Air Assault Brigade were forced to tell the Iraqis they were not firing at them, and ordered them back to their home country telling them it was too early to surrender.

It's amazing they all didn't sit down for a spot of tea.

















oh.. and WTF?

 

[Brae]

We need to stop tease and use the A-bomb.

 

[Philip Hamm]

Um, I think there have been enough nuclear blasts already in the history of the world. We don't need any more. :rolleyes