The Russians claim it is equivalent to 44 tons of TNT, with a 990 foot blast radius. My favorite part of the article:
“The tests have shown that the new air-delivered ordnance is comparable to a nuclear weapon in its efficiency and capability,” said Col.-Gen. Alexander Rukshin, a deputy chief of the Russian military’s General Staff, said in televised remarks.
Unlike a nuclear weapon, the bomb doesn’t hurt the environment, he added.
I’m sure an 8-ton bomb is great for the environment…I mean, it removes all those pesky people who are mucking things up, right?
Like its U.S. predecessor, first tested in 2003, the Russian bomb is a “thermobaric” weapon that explodes in an intense fireball combined with a devastating blast. It explodes in a terrifying nuclear bomb-like mushroom cloud and wreaks destruction through a massive shock wave created by the air burst and high temperature.
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The report showed the bomb dropped by parachute from a Tu-160 strategic bomber and exploding in a massive fireball. It featured the debris of apartment buildings and armored vehicles at a test range, as well as the scorched ground from a massive blast.
Emphasis mine. Now, I know what they mean, but this isn’t exactly ‘no impact to the environment’, here. Anyway, more fun stuff from our ‘friends’ in Moscow.
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