‘Father of all bombs’: Russia’s brutal weapon

One of the world’s most brutal weapons — capable of causing horrifyingly gruesome injuries — has been deployed against Ukraine.

It’s one of war’s most brutal weapons. It pulls oxygen out of the air. The resulting blast is second only to a nuclear bomb. And Russia’s using it against Ukraine.

Self-propelled multiple rocket launcher systems (MLRS) are a common feature in Moscow’s armoured vehicle formations. They carry a variety of weapons, mostly large arrays of semi-guided rockets intended to hammer a target with a demoralising barrage of explosives.

But some are far more sinister.

Mykolaiv’s air base has been hit by a major explosion, according to the local news media. Eyewitness videos show a blindingly bright night sky. pic.twitter.com/GKYpQYFzGJ

— Kevin Rothrock (@KevinRothrock) February 25, 2022

They carry slightly fewer rockets than their cousins. But their warheads are immensely more powerful.

Their purpose is to destroy entrenched positions of defenders. Forts. Bunkers. Caves. They are especially effective in urban areas.

Their technology is brutally simple: a volatile mixture of vaporous fuel spreads out upon contact, mixes with the air — and then explodes a high-temperature, oxygen-consuming blast.

Most explosives detonate with a flash. These can be identified by their relatively prolonged flaring blast.

The result is a vacuum effect that sucks in all the air from ground level and jets it upwards in a massive mushroom cloud.

It comes by many names. An aerosol bomb. A vacuum bomb. A fuel-air explosive. But its defining feature is an intense shockwave — much greater than conventional explosives.

And it’s the Kremlin’s weapon of choice.

A thermobaric bomb explosion during the Caucasus 2016 strategic drills at Opuk range of Russia’s Southern Military District. Picture: Sergei Savostyanov\TASS via Getty Images

Father of all bombs

“Imagine taking a deep breath then submerging yourself in water. Then imagine having all of the oxygen forced instantaneously from your body. Try to inhale again. But instead of cold water filling your lungs, toxic, flammable particles start killing you from the inside out.”

That’s the distressing image painted by University of Portsmouth Reader in Politics and Ethics Peter Lee.

He was writing in 2016 after the apparent use of Russian thermobaric weapons in Syria.

He was appalled at its widespread, indiscriminate effect.

“It is the principle that underpinned the carpet bombing of cities in World War II,” he wrote. “Not to mention America’s use of the atom bomb against Japan.”

Russia’s most infamous thermobaric weapon has been dubbed “Father of All Bombs” (FOAB). It’s rumoured to produce a blast equivalent to 44 tons of TNT over a 300-metre area.

If true, it would be the most powerful non-nuclear bomb in the world.

Its existence could explain several of the enormous explosions seen in the opening moments of the invasion of Ukraine and later again in the capital of Kyiv. But this is uncertain as detonating ammunition dumps could also produce a similar effect.

All past attempts to regulate and restrict such weapons have failed.

Their use in Ukraine is likely to reignite international outrage.

“We can only stand by while their vacuum bombs literally suck the life out of innocent civilians,” warns Lee.

Russia’s most infamous thermobaric weapon has been dubbed ‘Father of All Bombs’ (FOAB). Picture: Sergei Savostyanov\TASS via Getty Images

Barbaric blast

Fuel-air bombs are more complicated than they may sound.

This fuel is different.

It quickly evaporates into an aerosol that seeps into buildings and low places, such as cellars, bunkers and caves.

A large explosive is timed to go off shortly after.

But it’s also packed with fine metallic grains.

“These, often aluminium-based, particles ignite a fraction of a second later and burn at very high temperatures,” Lee describes.

The fireball is fierce. As is the firestorm of metal.

But it’s not the weapon’s most devastating effect.

It’s the intense shockwave that’s most deadly. And the resulting vacuum.

It crushes its victims to death. Further out, it can break bones, dislodge eyes, burst eardrums and split internal organs. Not to mention suck all the air out of lungs.

Nothing can protect from it. Not a tank. Not body armour.

It’s not new.

The United States was the first to use them. Helicopters dropped large barrel bombs to clear landing zones of opponents and minefields.

In 2002, fuel-air explosives were dropped on Afghanistan’s Tora Bora mountain caves in a failed bid to suffocate Islamic State leader Osama bin Laden.

Russia has also used them before, both against the Chinese in a 1969 border war and in the early 2000s against Chechnya.

It left entire city blocks in Grozny looking like a post-apocalyptic wasteland.

Windows were blown out, and the contents of high-rise buildings spilt out into the streets. In just one attack, 37 civilians were killed and several hundred severely injured.

Russia’s Tornado-G MLRS Multiple Launch Rocket System shown at a military fair in 2019. Picture: Sefa Karacan/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

Firestorms in Ukraine

The most common thermobaric weapon seen rolling through Ukraine on social media feeds is the 46-ton TOS-1A Solntsepek (Burning Sun) self-propelled rocket launcher.

TOS is short for “heavy flame thrower”. But it’s not the sort that comes to mind.

This is the hull of a T-72 tank. But it doesn’t jet burning oil out of a nozzle. Instead, it carries 24, 90kg rockets filled with aerosol fuel.

These have a range of about six kilometres. But its heavy tank armour is intended to carry the rockets within visual range of its target.

A single volley can be launched within 15 seconds. Their impact can turn a 250-metre blast zone into a moonscape.

Military analysts believe these vehicles are being used to smother potential hiding spots for Ukraine troops armed with Western Javelin antitank and Stinger anti-air missiles.

But they’re not the only thermobaric weapon in use.

The Iskander-M intermediate-range ballistic missile can carry such warheads. As can a variety of air-dropped glide bombs and helicopter-carried rockets.

Russia also equips specialist troop units with RPO-A “Bumblebee” portable rocket launchers. These fire small fuel-air explosives up to about 1.7km. Similar warheads can be found on other mobile antitank missile systems and RPGs (rocket-propelled grenades).

All are now in use in Ukraine.

Heavy explosion in Mykolaiv pic.twitter.com/A1Pw8ihkou

— C O U P S U R E (@COUPSURE) February 25, 2022

And not for the first time.

In 2015, a TOS-1 was seen by international observers in the hands of separatist forces in eastern Ukraine. It was believed to have taken part in the bombardment of Donetsk International Airport. Unconfirmed reports suggest about 40 soldiers were killed and another 200 seriously injured, with about a dozen vehicles destroyed, in a single strike.

Ukraine never possessed this system. So it must have been supplied by Russia.

Now hundreds of them are rolling throughout Ukraine.

International bodies are concerned about the large and indiscriminate nature of the blast and the debilitating wounds it can inflict.

“Such suffering and death is distressing and inhumane,” Lee wrote.

“In opposition-held areas, civilians are just as likely to be affected as combatants. The indirect effects are also desirable … Local communities are terrorised into submission or displaced, joining the millions of refugees seeking sanctuary elsewhere.”