The world watched in awe at the United States and its so-called “Mother of All Bombs” dropping on Islamic States targets in Afghanistan last night. But Russia has an even bigger bomb.
Vladimir Putin ‘s so-called “Father of all bombs” is estimated to be about four times as big as the MOAB. The Russian device is reportedly a thermobaric bomb with a destruction radius of almost 300 meters and a blast yield of almost 44 tons of TNT.
In comparison, the MOAB had a blast yield of 11 tons. It has been described overnight as the largest non-nuclear bomb the US has ever used in combat.
Interestingly, the FOAB is said to actually be about 5,000lbs lighter than the MOAB, despite having a bigger bang. Thermobaric weapons are said to differ from conventional bombs, combining oxygen in the atmosphere to significantly expand the blast radius.
This leads to it also being referred to as a “vacuum bomb”. The FOAB, which was developed by the Russians in 2007, ignites a fuel-air mixture when it explodes in mid-air.
The bomb is said to vaporize targets and collapse structures. And the aftershocks are considered as powerful as a small nuclear explosion. Launching the FOAB in 2007, a Russian state-run TV channel confirmed it was four times more powerful than the US version, The Guardian reports.
