The Russian Air Force carried out a hugely significant test on the 12^th September 2007, in which an immense fuel-air bomb was dropped. According to the Russian military, the device is the largest explosive device on a global basis - outside of nuclear weapons. Images broadcast today on the Russian television network depicted a Tupolev Tu-160 Blackjack strategic bomber unleashing the bomb over a designated test range - its impact causing a large explosion and decimating a four-storey-high building. According to military analysts, the claims made in relation to its size - which would place the Russian device over and above the American MOAB - could well be true.

Fuel-air bombs, or, to give them their proper title, 'thermobaric devices', are conceived to explode in two phases. An initial blast generates a cloud of explosive matter, which is subsequently ignited.

The US MOAB (Massive Ordnance Air Burst) is known colloquially as the "Mother of All Bombs". This new Russian device, by comparison, has been named by its designers the "Father of All Bombs", according to Channel One News in Russia. Within it, approximately seven tons of explosives are contained, as opposed to eight+ in its US equivalent. However, due to the use of nanotechnology within its explosive contingent, the Russian bomb is described as possessing four times the destructive power.

The Moab is conceived to be delivered from inside a USAF C-130 Hercules aircraft, which it exits on a parachute.

In conversation with Channel One News, the Russian Deputy Armed Forces Chief of Staff, General Alexander Rukshin, said of the device: "Test results of the new airborne weapon have shown that its efficiency and power is commensurate with a nuclear weapon". He added that the "Father of All Bombs" had "no match in the world".

According to the author of the Jane's publication Air-Launched Weapons, such rhetoric could be plausible, based on Russia's history of fuel-air device development. Speaking to the BBC, Robert Hewson stated: "I think the likelihood is that this is the world's biggest non-nuclear bomb". He continued: "You can argue about the numbers and how you scale this but the Russians have a long and proven history of developing weapons in the thermobaric class."

According to Mr Hewson, fuel-air bombs were used by the Russian Air Force in Chechnya and Afghanistan. His thought on viewing today's coverage of the event was that the bomb was intended for use in Chechnya, but concerns about its destructive impact ultimately halted this.

He further described how he viewed the demonstration as just that; a "statement" forming part of a larger "phase of needing to make statements".

Source - Armed Forces International's Aviation Expert

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