MOAB : Massive Ordnance Air Blast bomb

Massive Ordnance Air Blast Bomb

The MOAB is an Air Force Research Laboratory technology project that began in fiscal year 2002, as a descendant of the BLU-82 "Daisy cutter".

MOAB length is 30 feet, 1.75 inches (9.17 m), diameter is 40.5 inches (102.9 cm), weight is 22,600 lb. (9.5 tonnes), of which 18,700 lb. (8.4 tonnes) are high explosives. Blast radius is 450 feet (137.61m, 150 yards), though the massive shockwave created by the air burst is said to be able to destroy an area as large as nine city blocks. Due to its large size and weight, it must be dropped out of the back of a cargo aircraft, usually a C-130. It is guided by global positioning technology and uses a parachute to pull it out of the cargo door, so it can be dropped from a higher altitude and with higher accuracy than its predecessor, the BLU-82. It is the first U.S. weapon to use Russian-style lattice control surfaces (referred to as "Belotserkovskiy grid fins"),[3] like those used on the R-400 Oka and Vympel R-77. It is only slightly smaller than the Grand Slam bomb of World War II.

On 11 September 2007 the Russian military announced that it had tested what it called the "Father of All Bombs". Described as the world's most powerful non-nuclear air-delivered munition, the Russian military claimed it was four times more powerful than the American
"Mother Of All Bombs." While the Russian bomb was reported to contain 7.8 tons of
"thermobaric" explosive, compared to the more than 8 tons of explosives in the American
bomb, the Russian bomb was said to use more highly efficient explosive, with a yield
equivalent to 44 tons of TNT. The bomb was reported to have a blast radius of 300 meters,
double that of the American bomb, while the temperature at the epicenter was also reported
to be twice as high.

The 21,700-pound [9,500 kilogram] bomb contains 18,700 pounds of H6, an explosive that is a
mixture of RDX (Cyclotrimethylene trinitramine), TNT, and aluminum. H6 is used by the
military for general purpose bombs. H6 is an Australian produced explosive composition.
Composition H6 is a widely used main charge filling for underwater blast weapons such as
mines, depth charges, torpedoes and mine disposal charges. HBX compositions (HBX-1, HBX-3,
and H6) are aluminized (powdered aluminum) explosives used primarily as a replacement for
the obsolete explosive, torpex. They are employed as bursting charges in mines, depth bombs,
depth charges, and torpedoes. HBX-3 and H-6 have lower sensitivity to impact and much higher
explosion test temperatures than torpex. The MOAB weapon produces a very large explosive
blast, with lesser fragmentation effects due to a thin-walled aluminum casing.