What types of bombs exist. Bomb rating. The most powerful non-nuclear weapons in history. The difference between an American vacuum bomb and a Russian one

Atomic weapons is rightfully considered not only the most terrible, but also the most majestic invention of mankind. It contains so much destructive power that the blast wave sweeps away not only all types of life, but also any, even the strongest, structures from the face of planet Earth. There are so many nuclear weapons in Russia’s military storage facilities alone that their simultaneous detonation could lead to the destruction of our planet.

And this is not surprising, since Russian reserves are in second place after American ones. Such representatives as “Kuzka’s Mother” and “Tsar Bomba” are assigned the title of the most powerful weapon of all time. The TOP 10 lists the nuclear bombs around the world that have or had the greatest potential. Some of them were used, causing irreparable harm to the ecology of the planet.

10th place. Little boy (Kid) with a capacity of 18 kilotons

This bomb was the first to be used not at a test site, but in real conditions. Its use has had big influence to end the war between America and Japan. The Little Boy explosion in the city of Hiroshima killed one hundred and forty of its residents. The length of this bomb was three meters and the diameter was seventy centimeters. The height of the nuclear column formed after the explosion was more than six kilometers. This city remains uninhabited to this day.

9th place. Fat Man (Fat Man) – 21 kilotons

This was the name of the second bomb dropped by an American plane on the city of Nagasaki. The victims of this explosion were eighty thousand citizens who died immediately, while another thirty-five thousand people became victims of radiation. This bomb is still the most powerful weapon, throughout the history of mankind, the use of which was carried out to achieve military goals.

8th place. Trinity (Thing) – 21 kilotons

Trinity holds the palm among nuclear bombs, exploded in order to study the reactions and processes occurring. The shock wave of the explosion raised the cloud to a height of eleven kilometers. The impression received by scientists who observed the first nuclear explosion in human history was stunning. Clouds of smoke white in the form of a pillar, whose diameter reached two kilometers, quickly rose upward, where they formed a mushroom-shaped cap.

7th place. Baker (Baker) - 23 kilotons

Baker was the name of one of the three bombs that took part in Operation Crossroads, which took place in 1946. During the test, the consequences of the explosion of atomic shells were studied. Animals and vessels were used as test subjects. marine class. The explosion was carried out at a depth of twenty-seven kilometers. As a result, approximately two million tons of water were displaced, which led to the formation of a column more than half a kilometer high. Baker provoked the world's first nuclear disaster. The radioactivity of Bikini Island, which was chosen for testing, reached such a level that it became impossible to live on it. Until 2010, it was considered completely uninhabited.

6th place Rhea - 955 kilotons

Rhea is the most powerful atomic bomb, which was tested by France in 1971. The explosion of this projectile was carried out on the territory of Mururoa Atoll, used as a testing ground for nuclear explosions. By 1998, more than two hundred nuclear shells were tested there.

5th place. Castle Romeo – 11 megatons

Castle Romeo is one of the most powerful nuclear explosions carried out in America. The order to begin the operation was signed on March 27, 1954. To carry out the explosion, a barge was launched into the open ocean, as there were fears that a bomb explosion could destroy an island located nearby. It was assumed that the power of the explosion would not exceed four megatons, but in fact it was equal to eleven megatons. During the investigation, it was revealed that the reason for this was the use of cheap material used as thermonuclear fuel.

4th place. Mike's device - 12 megatons

Initially, Mike's device (Evie Mike) had no value and was used as an experimental bomb. The nuclear cloud from its explosion rose thirty-seven kilometers, and the cloud cap reached 161 km in diameter. The force of the nuclear wave was estimated at twelve megatons. This power turned out to be quite enough to completely destroy all the islands of Elugelab on which the tests were carried out. Where they were, a crater formed, reaching two kilometers in diameter. Its depth was fifty meters. The distance over which the fragments carrying radioactive contamination scattered was fifty kilometers, if you count from the epicenter.

3rd place. Castle Yankee - 13.5 megatons

The second most powerful explosion carried out by American scientists was the Castle Yankee explosion. Preliminary calculations suggested that the power of the device could not exceed ten megatons, in terms of TNT equivalent. But the actual force of the explosion was thirteen and a half megatons. The leg of the nuclear mushroom stretched forty kilometers, and the cap - sixteen. Four days The radiation cloud was enough to reach the city of Mexico, the distance to which from the site of the explosion was eleven thousand kilometers.

2nd place. Castle Bravo (Shrimp TX-21) – 15 megatons

The Americans have never tested a more powerful bomb than Castle Bravo. The operation was carried out in 1954 and entailed irreversible consequences for the environment. As a result of the fifteen megaton explosion, very strong radiation contamination occurred. Hundreds of people living in the Marshall Islands were exposed to radiation. The length of the stem of the nuclear mushroom reached forty kilometers, and the cap stretched for one hundred kilometers. As a result of the explosion, seabed A huge crater was formed, the diameter of which reached two kilometers. The consequences provoked by the tests forced the introduction of restrictions on operations in which nuclear projectiles were used.

1 place. Tsar Bomba (AN602) – 58 megatons

More powerful Soviet Tsar Bomba was not and is not the case all over the world. The length of the projectile reached eight meters, and the diameter - two. In 1961, this shell exploded on an archipelago called New Earth. According to initial plans, the capacity of AN602 was supposed to be one hundred megatons. However, scientists, fearing the global destructive power of such a charge, decided to stop at fifty-eight megatons. The Tsar Bomba was activated at an altitude of four kilometers. The consequences of this shocked everyone. The fire cloud reached ten kilometers in diameter. The length of the “leg” of the nuclear mushroom was about 67 km, and the diameter of the cap covered 97 km. A very real danger threatened even the lives of people living at a distance of less than 400 kilometers. The echoes of a powerful sound wave were heard at a distance of a thousand kilometers. The surface of the island on which the tests were carried out became absolutely flat without protrusions or any buildings on it. The seismic wave managed to circle the Earth three times, allowing each of its inhabitants to feel all the power carried nuclear weapons. The result of this test was that representatives of more than a hundred countries signed an agreement prohibiting this type of testing. It does not matter what medium is chosen for this - earth, water or atmosphere.

It is possible to transform Russia into a parliamentary republic or to remove “more than two terms in a row” without a Constitutional Assembly

The headlines of newspapers and Internet resources dedicated to the article by the head of the Constitutional Court interpret this opus of Valery Zorkin differently. Some write that “Zorkin proposed not to touch the Constitution,” while speaking “against the reform, but for targeted changes.” Others considered the most important thing to be the proposal of “spot changes”. Still others don’t bother with details - “The Basic Law will change,” period. The disagreement is clear: the head of the Constitutional Court himself did everything to confuse the matter.

Among the “shortcomings” of the Basic Law, according to Mr. Zorkin, is the lack of proper balance in the system of checks and balances, “a bias in favor of executive power“, as well as “insufficient clarity” in the distribution of powers between the president and the government, between the center and the regions, in determining the status of the Presidential Administration and the powers of the prosecutor’s office.

The head of the Constitutional Court also does not like the “construction” of Article 12, which states that local government is not part of the system of government bodies and is conditionally independent. The head of the Constitutional Court believes that municipalities should, on paper, occupy the place that in fact they have long occupied in the country - the place of “the lower echelon of public authority.”

Nothing original, that is, what a respected lawyer in different time I wouldn’t have said or written before, it’s not in the text. “Renewed calls for drastic constitutional reforms“he called it “particularly alarming” in the current “far from favorable socio-economic situation,” and proposed correcting the shortcomings of the current Constitution, born in 1993, with “spot changes.” But even a spot amendment can turn out to be a serious reform, because we are talking about the CONSTITUTION.

It has nine chapters. In the first (“Fundamentals of the constitutional system”), the second (“Rights and freedoms of man and citizen”) and the ninth (“Constitutional amendments and revision of the Constitution”), not only a word, but a punctuation mark cannot be changed without a specially convened Constitutional Assembly. No one knows for sure what kind of meeting this is and what it is eaten with, because for 25 years they have not bothered to pass the corresponding federal constitutional law.

But without a Constitutional Assembly, it is impossible to introduce a state ideology in Russia - because “no ideology can be established as mandatory and state,” it is said in Chapter One. An exhaustive list of bodies and structures that “carry out state power in Russia,” is also there, these are the president, the government, the parliament and the courts, and if someone wants to supplement it with some kind of State Council, they need a Constitutional Assembly. Without it, it will not be possible to transform Russia from at least formally federal state into a unitary one, abolishing the national republics. And even more so, completely rewrite the Constitution, replacing it with a new one!

By the way, Article 12, so disliked by the head of the Constitutional Court, about local self-government is in the first chapter of the Constitution.

But chapters three through eight can be rewritten inside and out using ordinary federal constitutional laws adopted by a two-thirds vote of both houses of parliament. But precisely these chapters talk about the powers of the subjects of the Russian Federation and federal center, president, parliament, government, on the procedure for electing or forming higher authorities authorities and the principles of formation of courts!

That is, a federal constitutional law can transform Russia from a presidential republic into a parliamentary one, reduce or increase the scope of powers of the head of state, remove the words “more than two terms in a row” from the article about the permissible possible time for one person to remain in the highest position in the state, abolish the Duma or the Federation Council, turning parliament into a unicameral...

A lot of things can be done without much trouble while parliament is totally controlled by the Kremlin. In the State Duma, for example, United Russia has 341 mandates, and 301 votes are enough to pass a constitutional law.

It was by federal constitutional law, on the initiative of President Dmitry Medvedev, that the presidential term of office in 2008 was increased from 4 to 6 years, and the term of office of State Duma deputies - from 4 to 5 years. And in 2013, on the initiative of President Vladimir Putin, 9 articles of the Basic Law were rewritten at once, instead of two higher courts (the Supreme Court and the Supreme Arbitration Court), creating one, the Supreme Court, and transferring the right to appoint prosecutors of the constituent entities of the Federation from the Prosecutor General to the President.

Presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov, however, already said today that the head of the Constitutional Court can write whatever he thinks, but “the Presidential Administration is not taking any action in this direction.”

But the sediment, as they say, remains. “Problem 2024” is rising over the country, like the red ominous sun at the end of the Soviet film “The Elusive Avengers.” Political scientists speak out loud, and representatives political elite silently they are tormented by the question “how?”. Therefore, every publicly uttered by a high official the word “about the Constitution” is perceived precisely in this context.

In addition, for some reason, we always did “spot editing” in the year of “round dates”, on the 15th and 20th birthdays. Bad sign: in December 2018, the Basic Law will turn 25.

The head of state himself last time answered a question about the Constitution immediately after the elections on March 18. “For now I am not planning any constitutional reforms,” that’s all he said. The word “yet” attracts attention. Especially if we remember that in 2008 and 2013 they forgot to warn society in advance...

And the frightened crow is afraid of the bush.

A vacuum bomb is a non-systemic name for volumetric explosion ammunition. That in itself physical phenomenon, as a volumetric explosion, has been known for a long time. In the 19th century During the industrial revolution in Europe, strange explosions began to spontaneously occur not only in gunpowder factories, but even in flour mills, sugar and rope factories. Of course, they suspected the machinations of enemies. But as physicists soon proved, foreign saboteurs had nothing to do with it. The reason for a volumetric explosion is that, at a certain concentration, a mixture of air with almost any solid and at least somewhat flammable substance can theoretically detonate. Even powdered sugar, coal or wood dust can explode. Why is there dust from sawdust - a small volumetric explosion occurs in the cylinder of any car at every stroke. It's all about scale.

"Shock Ten"

1. AVBPM (Russia). Vacuum bomb, TNT equivalent - 44 tons. When an explosion occurs at a distance of 100 m, fortifications of any power are completely destroyed, including underground bunkers. At a distance of 170-200 m, reinforced concrete fortifications such as pillboxes completely collapse. At a distance of 450 - 500 m, any residential buildings scatter. It was not used in combat, but has already received the unofficial title of the father of all bombs.

2. GBU-43/B, aka MOAB - Massive Ordnance Air Blast, better known as the “Mother of all bombs” (USA). TNT equivalent - 11 tons. A high-explosive bomb created in 2002 and equipped with a satellite guidance. In 2017, it was used against the tunnels of the “Islamic State” (banned on Russian territory) in Afghanistan. 14 MOAB units remain in service.

3. BLU-82/B (USA). High-explosive bomb with TNT equivalent of 10 tons. Was developed during vietnam war for clearing helipads in the jungle. Used in Operation Desert Storm and in Afghanistan. Due to the large dimensions, the bomb carriers were not bombers, but C-130 transport aircraft.

4. T-12 Cloudmaker - the heaviest in history (7.5 tons of TNT) anti-bunker bomb, developed for the US Air Force in the late 1940s. Due to its huge dimensions, it could only be used by B-36 Peacemaker strategic bombers. After their decommissioning in 1959, it was also withdrawn from service. Never used in combat.

5. Grand Slam - seismic high-explosive bomb (Great Britain) TNT equivalent 6.5 tons. After dropping the earth from a height of 8 km to a depth of 40 m. As a result of the underground explosion, a seismic wave arose, causing damage to structures on the surface of the earth. Used to a limited extent during World War II.

6. FAB-9000 (USSR). Entered service in 1950. Designed to hit large fortifications. TNT equivalent 4.3 tons. In 1954 it was modernized and in the FAB-9000M-54 version was used in Afghan war. Today there are no FAB-9000 carriers left in the Russian Aerospace Forces.

7. Blockbuster Mk V - high-explosive bomb (Great Britain, 1943) TNT equivalent up to 4 tons. It was widely used for bombing German cities - hence the name - blowing up a block.

8. “Bouncing Bomb” (Great Britain) - a special bomb designed to destroy dams on German rivers. TNT equivalent 2.5 tons. Used only once in May 1943. They destroyed and damaged several hydraulic structures, causing flooding of areas and a decrease in the production of electricity and agricultural products.

9. Tallboy (UK) TNT equivalent 2.3 tons. designed for the destruction of underground structures. It was used at the end of World War II to destroy industrial and military facilities of Nazi Germany that were impossible to hit with conventional bombs. These bombs sank the battleship Tirpitz and the heavy cruiser Admiral Scheer.

10. FAB-5000 (USSR) - Soviet aerial bomb, adopted for service in 1943. TNT equivalent 2.2 tons. Used by the Red Army Air Force during the Great Patriotic War against the fortifications of Koenigsberg, on the Kursk Bulge, 2 bombs were dropped on Helsinki. According to some reports, in the 80s it was used against fortified positions of the Mujahideen during the Afghan War.

The arsenal in the Ichni area was blown up by saboteurs. Defense Minister Stepan Poltorak announced this on Wednesday, October 10, at a government meeting.

“What happened? In our opinion, the fact that the explosions occurred in such a way that first there was a bang, then a glow, after that two bangs and explosions of ammunition, indicates that it was likely that ammunition was planted to blow up our storage facilities. Why was it not possible to preserve it? Not enough there was perimeter equipment. The second position: we can reliably preserve our reserves only when we build reliable reinforced concrete structures," he said.

Poltorak emphasized that the ammunition explosions began in different places.

“Almost all the interviewed personnel reported that the first explosions occurred at 3:20. They were simultaneous in three storage facilities at once. After that, at 3:45, six more explosions occurred at different storage facilities, and this happened along the entire perimeter - in different corners and in the center," the minister said.

The Minister of Defense stressed that security measures at the arsenal were observed at a sufficient level.

“At this arsenal, a full-time battalion category has been allocated, a company has been staffed to provide security, a canine service has been introduced, and funds have been deployed electronic warfare to suppress drones and work was carried out to equip weapons storage areas. At the time of the explosion, there were two people at each post: one Ukrainian Armed Forces serviceman and one representative of the paramilitary security. In addition, there was a chief of guard, an assistant chief and a reserve of 10 people. Along the perimeter at a distance of up to 3 km there were 12 people in different types outfits," he said.

Let us remind you that Minister Poltorak also said that at the time of the emergency, although it was designed for 127 thousand tons. But for last years almost half of the reserves were redeployed to other arsenals.

“Its area is 680 hectares. The security perimeter is 8 km 200 meters. There are 112 storage facilities on it, 40% of which are open areas,” he said.

General information

Bomb - explosive technical device, are designed to destroy underground, above-ground and sea targets. A bomb consists of a body, controls and a mass of explosive material.

Bombs come in different types. Depending on the type - aviation, embedded, deep. According to specific effects - electromagnetic, chemical, bacteriological, photobomb, incendiary, fragmentation, neutron. They are also divided by caliber and power of action.

In general, a bomb is a weapon designed to destroy and destroy, which in turn leads to death.

The most powerful bomb in the world.

To answer the question, what is the most powerful bomb in the world, you must first decide what type of bomb we're talking about: atomic or non-atomic.

As you know, the most powerful bomb that has ever been put into action is the Soviet thermonuclear bomb, which was dropped on October 30, 1961 on Malaya Zemlya (Sukhoi Nos test site). The bomb's yield was 57 megatons of TNT.

The “nuclear mushroom” of the explosion rose to a height of 67 km, thereby passing through the stratosphere. The blast wave was recorded by sensitive instruments three times - so many times it circled the Earth, the audibility of the wave became 1000 km. This bomb received two names: “Tsar Bomba” and “Kuzka’s Mother”.

But due to technical progress, scientists are developing alternative types of bombs - not atomic ones.

Massive Ordnance Air Blast is the official name of the most powerful non-nuclear American bomb GBU-43/B. In special circles, or more simply put, among the people, this bomb was called “The Mother of All Bombs.” Its length is 10 m, diameter 1 m, weight is about 9.5 tons. Most of it comes from H6 type explosives, which consists of aluminum powder. The bomb's damage radius is about 150 m.

The MOAB was conceived as a follow-up to the famous BLU-82 Daisy Cutter. The first tests of this bomb were carried out in March, and then in November 2003, in Florida. Total There are 15 bombs manufactured, production is located in the city of McAlister. Unfortunately, the use of these ammunition is not so relevant in our time - they are used for cleaning large territories from the thickets.

However, in 2007, a more powerful bomb was built in Russia. The exact name for the new model has not been released, but after successful tests it received the name “Daddy of All Bombs.” The total affected area of ​​the “daddy of all bombs” is 20 times larger than that of the “mother”. And today there is no more powerful non-nuclear bomb in the world. Also, lastly, I recommend watching the video of the explosion of the most powerful atomic bomb in history