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One of the problems with using a pure fuel is getting the dispersal right; if you disperse too far you don't get a blast at all, whereas if you don't disperse far enough then your blast is restricted but more important you get a big fire instead of an explosion because it's oxygen-starved during the first critical milliseconds. I've read that proved difficult to get the dispersion just right. It occurs to me that mixing an oxygen donor into the fuel would grant you some leeway on the high side, so that you could still get an explosion if the mix was too rich. The word "terror" has come to mean a lot of things recently, so I'm hesitant to use it in this context. But there really isn't any other word which makes sense, so let's come right out with it: part of the reason to use a weapon like this is to terrorize the enemy troops. It's as much a psyops weapons as anything else. (This isn't "terrorism" in the classic sense, of course, though no doubt someone will claim that it is.) Some of it is to neutralize mine fields (because the concussion can set off mines in a wide area), but mostly this is being used now just because it is impressive as hell. With any other weapon, even with cluster bombs, there's a certain amount of luck involved and some men in the zone of attack will come out with minor wounds or even be unscathed -- but not with this. Everyone within a certain range of the detonation will die from the concussion. In fact, within a nearer zone, there won't be any bodies to find because the pressure of the blast will vaporize them. At the same time as these are being dropped, I suspect they're also dropping leaflets saying "You're next" on other parts of the line. Thought these are conventional weapons, they are sufficiently powerful to create a mushroom cloud. Something of the kind was done in Iraq, too, and it was quite effective at sapping Iraqi morale (as well it might; it's a scary weapon). This really is "the heavy artillery" -- and it doesn't seem like something we'd start doing in preparation to putting the theater to sleep for six months to wait out the winter. It really does sound like they're getting ready to try to convince the Northern Alliance to take Kabul before winter sets in -- for the other effect this has is to strengthen the morale of a force that sees it land on their enemies. (discuss) Update 20011107: Here is BBC coverage of the BLU-82. Some carps: they're not called "daisy cutters" because of the shape of the blast zone; they're called that because they use a fuse which causes them to detonate just above the surface. The term "daisy cutter" goes back a long way; some bombs used in WWII were also called that. The distinguishing feature of all daisy cutters is a long portruding fuse sticking out of the nose of the bomb to make it detonate above the ground. Second, there isn't time for the fuel mix to penetrate bunkers and suchlike before the detonation; the detonation follows the bursting charge by only a fraction of a second. The reason that fuel air bombs are effective against bunkers is because they burn up most of the oxygen in the vicinity and because they generate such an immense concussion. |
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