VesselTrax: Thermobaric Bomb Equivalent to Dust Explosion

Combining the correct ingredients of fuel, oxygen, and heat in a confined area will lead to a damaging explosion and fire in an industrial or manufacturing work place. The military currently utilizes these same physical properties in the utilization of very effective thermobaric (fuel-air) weapons.

A fuel-air explosive consists of either a volatile liquid or finely powdered solid that is ignited by an explosive charge. The effects of a thermobaric weapon are the same as a dust explosion at a manufacturing or industrial production plant. Over the past 25 years there has been nearly 300 such dust explosions in the work place and the Department of Labor has yet to adopt safety regulations concerning this prevalent problem.

Examples Thermobaric Bombs

XM1060 40mm Thermobaric Grenade

BLU-118 bomb “cave

buster”

SMAW-NE bazooka

AGM-114N hellfire missle

In contrast, coalition military forces in Iraq and Afghanistan are having excellent results with the physics of thermobaric reactions. A 2000 issue of the Marine Gazette Corps describes the effects of a thermobaric weapon.

“Thermobaric detonations will create three ‘zones’

of injury,” it continued. “The first is the central

zone where most will die immediately from blast overpressure and

thermal injuries. Casualties in the second zone will survive the

initial blast and burns, but will have extensive burns and those

internal injuries listed above....

“Injuries to the extremities and eyes will be common in

the third zone.”

The dangers of dust explosions and thermobaric weapons have fatal consequences to all parties suffering the after effects.