New thermobaric weapon used by Marines in Iraq

[marstein]

I need this:

http://www.boingboing.net/2005/11/15...aric_weap.html

A post-action report from Iraq describes the effect of the new weapon: "One unit disintegrated a large one-storey masonry type building with one round from 100 meters. They were extremely impressed." Elsewhere it is described by one Marine as "an awesome piece of ordnance."

[MilesTeg]

See kids, chemistry and physics can be fun!

[Steeler]

*cough*

[HellRazor61]

The heck with cordon search missions. We will just blow the place up who cares who or what is inside. LOL!! As I might have said when I was in the Army "Steel on Target Hooahh"

[tau_neutrino]

Wow, I wonder if smaller munitions can be made to produce thermobaric explosions.

[Eggplant999]

""One unit disintegrated a large one-storey masonry type building with one round from 100 meters. They were extremely impressed." Elsewhere it is described by one Marine as "an awesome piece of ordnance.""

Glad to see we're still blowin buildings up over there. (/sarc)

[Steeler]

Originally Posted by tau_neutrino

Wow, I wonder if smaller munitions can be made to produce thermobaric explosions.

From the Wired article:

The Army's ultimate goal is to put these mini-thermobaric bombs into the XM29, its next-generation rifle. The 33-inch-long weapon is designed to fire two types of rounds: standard bullets and programmable, grenade-like ammunition that explode in the air.

The XM29 -- which won't make it into soldiers' hands until 2006 -- gets even deadlier when thermobaric ammunition is added.
Photo: Alexander Roy

I'm just guessing that the explosive munitions are the size of that little shell on the table. So, to recap: programmable range-detonation incendiary/asphyxiation grenades about half the size of an ipod in a standard infantry assault rifle.

They make these up at Picatinny Arsenal, just 2 counties over from me.

[KeithMann]

Why can't they have booths like that at the trade shows I go to?

[Strag]

So what's the story with the OICW? I'd read it was scrapped. H&K tried to salvage their R&D costs from it by taking the assault rifle portion (the part of the OICW that they developed) and pushing that as the XM8. Is the OICW now back in the picture?

And yeah, the programmable round is the (20mm) round shown. Sounds like it'd be pretty nasty with a thermobaric projectile.

[jepzilla]

An interesting demonstration. Masonry construction is very vulnerable to this kind of explosion, since it doesn't resist off axis loads very well. The weapon sacrifices punch (brisance and initial extreme overpressure) for the ability to throw a lot of material at once. To quote from the report:

Only received reports of two shots. One unit disintegrated a large one-story masonry type building with one round from 100 meters. They were extremely impressed. However, another unit tried to breach a wall of a similar masonry building after being unsuccessful at trying to mechanically breach a door. “The round just bounced off the wall.” They were not so impressed.

I'm not sure if they mean the round literally bounced off the wall and didn't detonate, or if the explosion just bounced off the wall. The second scenario wouldn't surprise me since this weapon would almost certainly require a small enclosed space to be effective. To breach exterior walls in the manner they wanted you'd be better off with just a normal shaped charge. Without going into details I see this as something that would work well only against relatively small masonry construction. Maybe some old steel frame (non-earthquake resistant) buildings might be vulnerable too, but pretty useless against anything else.

On the other hand, the middle east isn't known for high standards of construction.

[xTYBALTx]

Originally Posted by jepzilla

On the other hand, the middle east isn't known for high standards of construction.

Haven't you seen South Park: The Movie? Our next enemy is not in the middle east. . .he's much close to home!

[Strag]

Originally Posted by jepzilla

The second scenario wouldn't surprise me since this weapon would almost certainly require a small enclosed space to be effective. To breach exterior walls in the manner they wanted you'd be better off with just a normal shaped charge. Without going into details I see this as something that would work well only against relatively small masonry construction. Maybe some old steel frame (non-earthquake resistant) buildings might be vulnerable too, but pretty useless against anything else.

Sounds kinda like holding a firecracker in your hand. If the firecracker goes off while lying on your open hand, your hand stings and maybe you get a small burn. But, if you hold the firecracker within your fist, the explosion is contained.......trip to the hospital.

[Steeler]

One of the articles mentioned that the Marines were targeting second floor windows to get the SMAW rounds into the building. When there were no windows, they used a standard rocket first to make one.

[ABRA]

Apparantely they've been using the HEAA round, the anti-tank one, to make a hole. Then sending one of these through it if a window is not avaliable. In Fallujah the SMAW-NE gunners we getting pretty good at estimating which wall to hit so as to get the roof to collapse on the enemies within.

Thermobaric weapons like this have always gotten harsh criticisms when they were used in Afghanistan and Chetchnya by the Soviets/Russians for their disproportionate response, lack of precise and consequent noncombatant casualties. If the thermobaric round is adapted to the rapid fire grenade launcher on the new service rifle, I can only image this turning into a PR nightmare. Honestly precision aim needed for thermobarics would mean the GL airburst function on the programable rangefinder on the new service rifle would be better suited to frag grenades anyway.