With worldwide attention focused on the latest step in weapons development, reports indicate that Russia is keeping up with the United States in creating a thermobaric bomb that produces a supersonic shock wave and intense high temperatures in the blast area.
Russia claims its new weapon produces four times the explosive power of the MOAB, yet it weighs less. Called the “Father of All Bombs (FOAB),” the device weighs 15,560 pounds compared to the 21,000 pounds of the MOAB.
FOAB was first tested in 2007, four years after MOAB’s first test. It contains 44 tons of explosive material, compared to the 11 tons of MOAB.
It carries 44 tons of TNT and explodes in the same way as its American counterpart, obliterating anything within the blast zone, collapsing buildings and producing huge blasts and aftershocks.
Although – like the MOAB – it is not nuclear, the aftermath of the bomb could be comparable to a nuke being deployed. It was test-fired by the Russians in 2007 where the temperature produced by the blast was also twice as high than that in the MOAB.”
Some American defense analysts question the veracity of the Russian claims regarding FOAB. No photographs have been released in connection with the weapon.
This latest stage in an arms race is just the beginning, as weapon development moves full speed ahead.
As the world’s attention was on the first combat use of the conventional “Mother Of All Bombs,” the US National Nuclear Security Administration announced the successful field test of the modernized gravity nuclear bomb in Nevada.
The NNSA and the US Air Force completed the first qualification flight test of the B61-12 gravity nuclear bomb on March 14 at the Tonopah Test Range in Nevada, the agency announced on Thursday.”
The test was intended to evaluate the weapon’s “non-nuclear functions” and the capability of the F-16 fighter to successfully deploy the bomb. An F-16 fighter from Nellis Air Force Base dropped the “non-nuclear test assembly,” the NNSA said in a statement.
“The successful test provides critical qualification data to validate that the baseline design meets military requirements,” said Brigadier General Michael Lutton, NNSA’s principal assistant deputy administrator for military application. The NNSA is part of the Department of Energy, which is charged with managing US nuclear weapons.
#NNSA & @usairforce complete first B61-12 #LEP qualification flight test. @NellisAFB @NNSANevada https://t.co/cmhlhJsPnC pic.twitter.com/JbTpHn2cCB
— Frank Klotz (@FrankKlotzNNSA) April 14, 2017
The Trump Administration is pursuing an ambitious and expensive plan to modernize the US nuclear arsenal.
The March 14 test was the first in a series scheduled over the next three years. The goal is to complete the final design review in September 2018 and produce the first combat-ready device by March 2020.
Video footage of the MOAB drop in Afghanistan has been released:
Source: Daily Mail, RT
“Eees Russian Eagle. Three times as powerful as American Bird.”
Test them jointly on muslimey nations
Send one or two to Soros too
Here we go who got a bigger one. Grow up
I’m pretty sure this bomb was used because it’s probably been sitting around for decades waiting for a situation like the one the military just used it on. i’m so sick of the media if Russia wants to compete and brag about their arsenal and support Syria we should Nagasaki their a$$. Russia has never scared me. Their weapons and military are much weaker than people think they put on a front. America is considered a world power for a reason. Dont mess with us. Tell North Korea can’t even launch a missile without exploding immediately
They’ve been claiming a lot of things for years but I think about 80% of it is bs
Some one doesn’t understand when the word equivalent is written.
so who has used there’s