The mother of all bombs is worth it. The United States showed the "Mother of all bombs": what is unique about this weapon. Is there such a weapon in Russia

Image copyright Getty Images Image caption "Mother of all bombs" was first tested in Florida in 2003

The US military in the province of Nangarhar in eastern Afghanistan for the first time in combat used one of their most powerful conventional (that is, non-nuclear) aerial bombs.

Officially, the bomb is called GBU-43/B MOAB. The abbreviation MOAB officially means "Massive Ordnance Air Ilast" (heavy explosive ammunition), but in everyday life it is often deciphered as "Mother of All Bombs" - "mother of all bombs". There is a version that it was this nickname that appeared first, and the official name was chosen for the corresponding abbreviation later.

The target of the bombing was a network of tunnels built by Islamic State militants in the Achinsk region of the province (the IS group is banned in Russia and many other countries).

Since MOAB is a non-nuclear weapon, its use does not require mandatory presidential approval.

This is a really big ammunition - nine meters long and weighing 9800 kg. Even the biggest combat aircraft they are not equipped to carry such a bomb: it is transported on an MC-130 transport aircraft, thrown out through the cargo hatch, aimed at the target using GPS and detonated in the air shortly before contact with the ground.

It is ejected along with a cargo pallet (as for standard containers), after which a parachute opens on it, so that the bomb slides off it. For stabilization, as well as the direction of the flight of the projectile, four fins serve.

chief damaging factor is a powerful shock wave propagating within a radius of more than a kilometer from the site of the explosion. The impact power is equivalent to an explosion of approximately 8 tons of TNT.

The thin aluminum body is specially designed to maximize the blast radius.

This is an "anti-bunker weapon" - it is designed to destroy underground facilities and tunnels. Initially, the bomb was developed for use during the Iraq war: its first tests were carried out in 2003, but the projectile has not yet been used in combat conditions. The cost of each bomb is reported to be $16 million.

Interestingly, this is still not the most powerful conventional bomb in the US arsenal. The most powerful of them is called Massive Ordnance Penetrator ("heavy penetrating ammunition"), or MOP, it is also designed to destroy bunkers and weighs more than 13 tons.

Russia also has powerful non-nuclear bombs. The most famous of them was nicknamed "the daddy of all bombs", she was tested in 2007.

• Russia tested a super-powerful bomb

This is a volume explosion ammunition (they are also called, not always correctly, thermobaric or vacuum bombs; the action, for example, is based on the same principle). It explodes in two stages: first, a low-power explosion occurs, spraying a cloud of combustible material. This cloud then ignites and instantly burns out. A sharp pressure drop creates a shock wave of enormous destructive force.

Armaments of the "mother of all bombs" type, to a large extent, have and psychological impact on the enemy: powerful explosion designed to instill panic.

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One of the predecessors of this kind of weapons was american bomb BLU-82 Daisy Cutter ("daisy mower"), used since the Vietnam War. This 6800 kg bomb was also dropped from a transport aircraft and felled a forest in an area large enough to turn it into a helipad.

The MOAB bomb was being developed aviation company Dynetics of Alabama.

The use of the most powerful GBU-43 / B Massive Ordnance Air Blast Bomb (MOAB) by the US Air Force against the militants of the ISIS organization banned in Russia in Afghanistan brought not only military, but also political results. As a result of the strike, at least 36 militants, weapons depots, military equipment and destroyed several underground tunnels through which militants could move freely unnoticed by US soldiers. President Donald Trump called the operation "very successful mission» US Armed Forces. For its power in the United States, the GBU-43 / B was nicknamed the “Mother of all bombs.” Analyzing the results of the first combat use of the most powerful aviation ammunition, the authoritative American publication National Interest did not fail to recall that the Russians have a similar bomb. And much more powerful. Despite the smaller mass of the explosive, analysts of the American edition write, the Russian volumetric detonating aviation ammunition (ODAB) is 4 times superior to the American MOAB. At the same time, the power of the ammunition is approximately 40 tons of TNT, which is about four times more than that of the GBU-43. In addition, in terms of the radius of guaranteed destruction, the Russian "Papa", as the Russian bomb was called not without pathos, is twice as large as the American "Mama". The temperature at the epicenter of the explosion is twice as high, and in terms of the total area of ​​destruction, our bomb exceeds the American one by 20 times.
The Russian General Staff, commenting on the ODAB tests, reported that our bomb in terms of destructive power is comparable to the action of a nuclear weapon. However, unlike it, the ODAB explosion does not have environmental consequences.
ODAB operate on the basis of the so-called volumetric explosion. They created the "Father of all bombs" in the Moscow State Research and Production Enterprise "Basalt", known more for its unsurpassed shots for anti-tank grenade launchers. According to the military, ODAB are intended to hit targets located in the folds of the terrain or in the field fortifications open type, as well as to make passages in minefields. So, the Americans in Vietnam "cleared" them areas in the jungle for helicopter landings. In Afghanistan, we bombed the caves of Tora Bora and other underground fortifications of dushmans. According to unconfirmed reports, such bombs were used during the operations of the federal troops in Chechnya - to "clean up" the gorges from militants. Before the advent of ODAB in the USSR and Russia, the most powerful aviation ammunition was considered to be the ODAB-1500 volumetric detonating bomb and the FAB-9000 high-explosive bomb.
The design of ODAB is very original. In the nose of the bomb there is a complex electromechanical device designed for cocking and spraying explosives. After resetting the device, after a set time, the spraying of the combat substance begins. The resulting aerosol is converted into a gas-air mixture, which is then blown up by a fuse. ODAB creates a shock wave with an overpressure of about 3000 kPa (30 kgf/cm). In fact, forming a vacuum environment completely devoid of air at the epicenter of the explosion. This pressure drop literally tears everything from the inside: people, military equipment, fortifications and defensive structures of the enemy. Bombs can be used in any weather conditions from heights of 200-1000 m at speeds of 500-1100 km/h.
Volumetric detonating bombs are classified by the UN as "inhumane means of warfare causing undue human suffering". However, despite this wording, they are not prohibited and generally do not fall under any international treaty. Russia believes that ODAB will allow replacing a number of previously created low-yield nuclear weapons. The United States takes a similar position. It is for this reason that the US Congress authorized the acceleration of the implementation of the program for the development and production of this type of weapon.
The military does not hide the fact that they are creating these weapons to strike at Iranian nuclear facilities and North Korea. Legislators even allowed the Pentagon to use funds allocated for other weapons projects for this program: $19.1 million for the purchase of four superbombs, $28.3 million for testing, and $21 million for accelerating the process of upgrading B-2 bomb bays. In 2010, MOABs adopted B-2 strategic bombers. First used last Thursday.
- The use of MOAB in Afghanistan may have been aimed at demonstrating the capabilities of the US Air Force to Kim Jong-In, - said Vadim Kozyulin, professor at the Academy of Military Sciences. - There is no other reason for this. The effect of using the bomb on ISIS militants is highly questionable.
What is happening today with the Russian program to create ODAB is unknown. The Russian Defense Ministry has not yet commented on the results of the use of MOAB in Afghanistan - after all, there is nothing to comment on. Heavy duty weapons are not prohibited international treaties and its use is not regulated. However, after the Tomahawk missile attack on the Syrian Air Force airbase and the show of force in Afghanistan, it is likely that our military will not fail to remind that Moscow has a similar super-powerful argument, Kozyulin believes.

The GBU-43 aerial bomb, also known by the abbreviation MOAB (Massive Ordnance Air Blast), and colloquially referred to as the Mother of All Bombs, that is, the "Mother of all bombs", was used in a combat zone for the first time in 15 years after it was created . Analysts say that there was simply no suitable target for the most powerful conventional bomb in the US arsenal, since it is a highly specialized weapon.

According to the commander of US forces in Afghanistan, General John W. Nicholson, the Afghan group of the organization banned in Russia Daesh used the network underground bunkers and tunnels, and the GBU-43 proved to be the best means to destroy these structures.

Wired Magazine recalls that the "Mother of All Bombs" was developed by the US Air Force Research Laboratory in 2002 for possible use during the fighting in Iraq. True, the military eventually ordered only about a dozen of these superbombs. Such a small amount of ammunition was ordered not because of the cost of their production, but because of disabilities applications. Although these bombs are indeed expensive, not because of their complexity, but because of their size. In itself, "The Mother of All Bombs" turned out to be surprisingly simple.

"MOAB is not a very sophisticated weapon. It's actually just a big canister with a lot of explosives," Mark Kansiyan, senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, makes a clear comparison.

The uniqueness of the bomb lies in the large ratio of explosive to other materials. In addition to the shell, the ammunition consists almost entirely of H6 explosives - a stable mixture that allows you to store a huge bomb without fear of an accidental explosion that could destroy an entire military base.

The publication notes that the "Mother of all bombs" is non-nuclear and not anti-bunker ammunition. It is designed to create a powerful blast wave. Other bombs used by the US in Iraq, Syria, and Afghanistan contain, by percentage, less explosives and more shell material designed to destroy the enemy with shrapnel. The GBU-43 is also not similar to the Russian even more powerful thermobaric munition, which received, by analogy with American name"Father of all bombs".

MOAB affects the enemy solely due to the destructive blast wave that destroys everything at a distance of 150 meters. That is why the "Mother of all bombs" weighs more than 11 tons and is delivered to the bombing site by transport aircraft. MOAB is dropped directly over the target using a parachute, and GBU-43 explodes above the ground itself. By the way, the specific tail allows the bomb not only to hit the target, but also slows down its fall. This is necessary to enable the aircraft to move away from the bomb site.

"If it explodes too quickly, it will destroy the aircraft," explains Mark Kansiyan.

"This is a special type of bomb, best suited for certain type targets,” says military expert Peter Singer. And according to Wired Magazine, this is exactly the target that was found in the mountains of Afghanistan.

The publication explains that even precision weapons cannot destroy the network of tunnels laid by the terrorists and their inhabitants, because the numerous twists and turns stop the flurry of fragments. For the same reason, anti-bunker ammunition is capable of destroying only individual underground structures. But the blast wave of the super-powerful GBU-43 can easily penetrate into the farthest nooks and crannies of winding underground passages and caves.

At the same time, American experts admit that serious difficulties arise when using the "Mother of all bombs". This includes the use of special aircraft, and the unjustified use of ammunition to destroy individual targets, and most importantly, a high risk of collateral losses among civilian population. If the bombed caves and underground fortifications in Afghanistan were far from settlements, then when using the GBU-43 there was no need to worry about the fate of civilians.

"But if you drop something like that in Mosul, you will demolish half of the city," says Mark Kansiyan.

However, as the American edition notes, the use of such ammunition has one more goal - to show that "there is a new sheriff in the city."

"The use of bombs of this size now is probably a warning to other countries to avoid conflicts with the United States," said Rebecca Zimmerman of the US strategic think tank Rand. And Peter Singer adds that the use of the MOAB attracted the attention of the press, which would be difficult to achieve if the underground fortifications of terrorists were destroyed using other munitions.

Help "RG"

In December 2014, the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation recognized as terrorist international organizations DAISH (the Arabic name for the ISIS group) and the al-Nusra Front, banning their activities in the country. Thus, the claim of the General Prosecutor's Office of Russia was satisfied. In this regard, any participation in the activities of DAISH and the al-Nusra Front in Russia is considered a criminal offense.

The United States used the GBU-43 heavy-duty high-explosive aerial bomb, called the "mother of all bombs" (MOAB), in Afghanistan.

For the first time in history, the US Air Force used in combat conditions the GBU-43 super-powerful non-nuclear bomb, known as the "mother of all bombs", to bomb the fortified positions of the Islamic State terrorist organization banned in Russia in Nangarhar province in Afghanistan.

It is reported by CNN.

According to CNN sources, a US military aircraft has been in Afghanistan for a long time "pending orders to hit a suitable target."

By preliminary information, the tunnels and caves of IS became the target of the airstrike. Now the US military is assessing the damage caused to the terrorists.

White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer at a special briefing also officially confirmed the information about the airstrike in Afghanistan. "At 19:00 local time in Afghanistan, the United States used a GBU-43 aerial bomb to destroy a system of tunnels and caves that the terrorists were using to travel," Spicer said.

According to official representative White House, "The United States takes the fight against terrorism very seriously, and therefore it must deprive terrorists of the freedom of movement to continue their activities."

Spicer also stressed that the United States did everything possible to avoid civilian casualties. However, he refused to go into details regarding the details of the operation, and forwarded these questions to the Pentagon.

Later, the Pentagon released an official statement about the operation. The US Department of Defense confirmed the previously announced information, specifying that the purpose of the airstrike was "to minimize the risks for subsequent ground operations by US and Afghan troops."

“ISIS losses continue. They use explosives, tunnels and bunkers to strengthen their defenses. This is exactly the weapon that will weaken these obstacles and allow us to continue our offensive operation against ISIS,” said Gen. John Nicholson, commander of US forces in Afghanistan.

The Pentagon stressed that the US military used all precautions to eliminate the possibility of civilian casualties during the airstrike. "The US Army will continue the offensive operation until ISIS positions in Afghanistan are destroyed," the US Department of Defense concluded.

Journalists emphasize that this air strike was the first use of the GBU-43 in combat conditions in US history. Test video of the "mother of all bombs" published on the web.

test GBU-43 "mother of all bombs"

According to Pentagon officials in 2003, the bomb was designed for "psychological operations" in Iraq. Its powerful explosion was supposed to force the Iraqi troops to surrender.

After the impact, the Pentagon released a new test video of the "mother of all bombs" - the GBU-43/B - in 2003. The recording was published by CNN on its Twitter.

The US tested the "mother of all bombs" about 14 years ago, but it was first used in combat on Thursday, April 13, 2017.

The American president called the attack on the positions of the "Islamic State" in eastern Afghanistan "a very, very successful mission."

This is reported by the CNBC channel.

Trump also noted that he is very proud of the US military.

“Everyone knows perfectly well what happened and that I gave instructions to my armed forces. We have the greatest military in the world, and they are doing their job as usual,” the US president said.

"If you look at what has happened in the last eight weeks and compare what has actually happened in the last eight years, you will see that there is a huge difference," he said.

Trump did not provide more detailed information about the operation.

GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast(high-explosive heavy ammunition; MOAB), also referred to as Mother Of All Bombs ("mother of all bombs")- American high-explosive aerial bomb established in 2002-2003.

MOAB is one of the largest air bombs equipped with a system satellite guidance.

There are 14 MOAB units in the US arsenal.

The first news about the bomb dates back to the early 2000s. In mid-2002, the US Air Force Research Laboratory received an order to improve the BLU-82 bomb, in particular, to equip it with a satellite guidance system, which also made it necessary to improve the aerodynamic qualities of the ammunition.

By March 2003, the new bomb was ready. On March 7, the first solo flight of the MOAB without a warhead was carried out. On March 11, MOAB was tested at the Eglin Air Force Base in Florida, the second test took place there on November 22.

Contrary to popular misconception, MOAB is not a volumetric detonating (also erroneously called "vacuum") bomb. This is FAB - a high-explosive bomb.

MOAB has a length of 9.17 m and a diameter of 102.9 cm, the weight of the bomb is 9.5 tons, of which 8.4 is accounted for by the Australian-made explosive H-6 - a mixture of RDX, TNT and aluminum powder - which is 1 more powerful than TNT .35 times.

The force of the explosion is 11 tons of TNT, the radius of destruction is about 140 meters, partial destruction occurs at a distance of up to 1.5 km from the epicenter.

MOAB is equipped with a KMU-593 / B guidance system, which includes inertial and satellite navigation systems.

During the tests, the bomb was dropped from a Lockheed C-130 Hercules transport aircraft. Inside the aircraft, MOAB is mounted on a platform, which, along with the bomb, is pulled through the hatch using a parachute. Then MOAB quickly, in order not to lose speed, detaches itself from the platform and parachute, after which it begins to independently aim at the target.

A bomb of this type was once sent to Iraq, but was never used there during the hostilities.

What happened?

According to the US military high command, April 13, 2017 american planes dropped the largest non-nuclear bomb GBU-43 / B MOAB (Massive Ordnance Air Burst - heavy explosive ammunition) on the fortified areas of the Islamic State 1 terrorists in eastern Afghanistan. The charge was reportedly dropped from an MC-130 aircraft.

2

Where exactly was it hit?

The US said the strike was in the Achin region of Nangarhar province near the border with Pakistan to the east.

The Afghan province of Nangarhar is, in fact, the main enclave of the activities of the terrorists of the "Islamic state": on the territory of this province is the self-proclaimed "vilayat Khorasan", which is subordinate to the terrorists of IS 1 in Raqqa. The enclave has been conducting permanent fighting with government troops, American troops and the Taliban terrorist group banned in the Russian Federation 1 .

3

What are the losses of terrorists?

According to the Afghan Ministry of Defense, as a result of the strike, an IS terrorist hideout and a complex of tunnels located at great depths were destroyed. In addition, according to information from Kabul, 36 militants were killed. It is clarified that civilians were not injured during the bombardment - however, information about the consequences of the strike is still being clarified, and the data on the losses of militants has not been verified and can be subsequently supplemented.

In short, neither Kabul nor Washington knows exactly how many ISIS terrorists have laid down their wild heads from the "mother of all bombs."

4

What is this new attack?

The super-heavy bomb GBU-43 / B MOAB (this abbreviation is popularly translated as Mother Of All Bombs - "Mother of all bombs") was created in the States in 2002-2003 and is considered one of the largest bombs. The projectile is equipped with a satellite guidance system.

Initially, the "mother of all bombs" was created on the basis of the previous US super-heavy projectile - the BLU-82. On March 7, 2003, the first solo flight of MOAB without a warhead was carried out, and on March 11, MOAB was tested at the Eglin Air Force Base training ground in Florida.

5

What are the technical parameters and power of the bomb?

MOAB has a length of 9.17 m and a diameter of 102.9 cm, the weight of the bomb is 9.5 tons, of which 8.4 are explosives H-6 - a mixture of RDX, TNT and aluminum powder, developed in Australia.

The force of the explosion is 11 tons of TNT. For comparison, during the atomic bombing of Hiroshima in 1945, the "Kid" bomb was more than a thousand times more powerful (from 13 thousand tons). The radius of destruction of the projectile is about 140 meters, the blast wave reaches a distance of up to 1.5 km from the epicenter of the explosion.

6

How much territory has the Islamic State taken over in Afghanistan?

ISIS terrorists cannot yet compete in terms of the number of captured territories with the main sources of problems for the Afghan government - the Taliban. Direct IS control is observed on a small patch of land near the Pakistani border - but quite close to Kabul.

Objectively, due to its remoteness from the main events in Syria and Iraq, the "vilayat Khorasan" does not have constant external support and is forced to act independently, periodically raiding the bases of government troops and neighboring villages. In addition, Khorasan Wilayat has control over poppy plantations in Afghanistan and has some share in Afghan drug trafficking.

7

How did the US authorities react?

US President Donald Trump praised the US military for the bombing, calling the operation a "very successful" mission.

"We have amazing commanders in the army and the greatest armed forces in the world. They have done their job. This was another very successful operation", Trump said.

The US authorities also noted that the target of the strike was not only the tunnels themselves. The terrorists' free movement allowed them to threaten US military advisers and Afghan forces in the area, White House press secretary Sean Spicer said. However, Spicer did not answer the question whether this bomb would be used somewhere else: in Syria or the DPRK.

8

How did Russian officials and famous people react?

According to the Federation Council, the US authorities have resorted to using the most powerful non-nuclear bomb in order to test its effectiveness. It is also possible that a demonstration of American weapons was a possible purpose for the use of the bomb.

Meanwhile, living in the Russian Federation former employee American intelligence services Edward Snowden believes that the destroyed IS "tunnel complex" was built at the expense of the United States itself

"And these Mujahideen tunnel networks are we bombing in Afghanistan? We ourselves paid for them," Snowden wrote on his Twitter page.

9

How much does one such bomb cost? And how many such "mothers" do the States still have?

The price of one GBU-43 / B MOAB bomb, according to official figures, is about $ 16 million. For comparison - american missiles BGM-109 Tomahawk, with which the United States recently shelled the Shayrat airbase in Syria, cost about $ 1.87 million.

In total, the United States has 14 more bombs of this type.

10

Is there really no one who can find the answer to such a huge bomb?

You will be surprised, but Russia has the answer to the "mother of all bombs". After the strike on Afghanistan, the American media remembered that the Russian Federation possesses more powerful non-nuclear weapons than the American GBU-43 bomb. This is a High Power Aircraft Vacuum Bomb (AVBPM), known as the "daddy of all bombs".

More compact than the American "mother", the Russian "dad" is much more powerful - the ammunition capacity is approximately 40 tons of TNT, four times more than the GBU-43. At the same time, explosive dust ignites during the explosion, which fills the space and destroys all objects in its path at a distance of 3 km from the epicenter.

1 terrorist organization whose activities are prohibited on the territory of the Russian Federation