Are Thermobaric Weapons Really Necessary?

UPDATE: ...Oct.12 2016... G% JASSM is Definitely Equipped with a Thermobaric Warhead Enhanced blast explosive US 7998290 B2 ABSTRACT A thermobaric munition including a composite explosive material, the composite explosive material having a high-explosive composition, and a detonable energetic material dispersed within the high-explosive composition, the detonable energetic material in the form of a thin film, the thin film having at least one layer composed at least in part by a reducing metal and at least one layer composed at least in part by a metal oxide. A related method includes tailoring the blast characteristics of high explosive composition to match a predetermined time-pressure impulse, the method including disbursing a detonable energetic material having a preselected reaction rate within the high-explosive composition, the detonable energetic material in the form of a thin film, the thin film having at least one layer composed at least in part by a reducing metal and at least one layer composed at least in part by a metal oxide. https://www.google.com/patents/US7998290 -------------------------------- JASSM warhead technical details The J-1000 warhead is designed with a dense metal case, or contains dense metal ballast for maximum penetration. The JASSM is installed with hard target smart fuse (HTSF), which differentiates between the earth, concrete, rock and air. The FMU-156/B fuse used in the warhead of JASSM employs a 150-gram PBXN-9 booster. The 1,000lb class WDU-42/B (J-1000) penetrating warhead consists of 240lb of extremely insensitive explosive (AFX-757). http://www.airforce-technology.com/projects/agm-158-jassm-standoff-missile/ ------------------------------------------------------- AFX-757 is an insensitive high explosive developed by the Energetic Materials Branch of the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory.[1] Initially, it was intended as a replacement for the tritonal filler of hard target penetrator bombs, but has found other applications. It is a mixture of RDX, aluminium powder, ammonium perchlorate and the plasticizer hydroxyl-terminated polybutadiene (HTPB). AFX-757, which is cast-filled into warheads, has been used in warheads including the 250lb GBU-39/B Small Diameter Bomb, the WDU-42/B warhead of the AGM-158 Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile (JASSM), BLU-121A/B 2000lb penetrator bomb with thermobaric effects, and BLU-122/B 5000lb hard target penetrator.[2] As part of the JASSM project, it was the first explosive certified in the lowest hazard category for transportation, essentially stating that it will not explode accidentally http://en.citizendium.org/wiki/AFX-757 Interesting fact about thermobaric weapons revealed by CNN, the master of media spin, itself...G% http://www.cnn.com/2001/US/12/22/ret.new.weapon/