These are not new. We had them in Viet Nam. Nor are they outlawed far as I know. Some talk on TV indicated that the TV person had no idea what these two weapons are.
The cluster bomb, or cluster bomb unit (CBU), is an air dropped anti personnel munition. It is a big sheet metal container, perhaps five feet long and weighing maybe 750 pounds. The container is filled with grenades, small explosive charges, each with its own detonator. When dropped, an explosive charge blows open the sheet metal container and all the grenades are freed. Each grenade arms itself after it turns over a hundred times or so. One cluster bomb will cover a much larger area than a plain old iron bomb. Against infantry, a cluster bomb can be very deadly.
The “vacuum bomb” is what we used to call a fuel air bomb. It is just a big tank of flammable gas, natural gas, propane, whatever. When it hits the ground, a big valve opens and all the flammable gas is released. After a few seconds, to give the gas time to mix with air, a detonator ignites the cloud of fuel air mixture. Pound for pound, flammable gas provides far more energy than TNT, so the explosion of a fuel air bomb is intense.
No comments:
Post a Comment