military@cbnews.att.com (William B. Thacker) (09/02/90)
From: sun!sunburn.West.Sun.COM!gtx!qip!john (John Moore)
Can someone describe the characteristics of fuel air munitions.
What is the relative yield of a 1000 pound FAM vs 1000 # traditional explosive?
Do FAM's ever deploy a "shaped charge." A line of FAM in the right
shape should give a blast that diminishes as 1/R rather than 1/R**2 for
a spherical blast. A 3 dimensional shape should be able to generate
a planar blast front where diffraction and absorbtion are the
only ways in which the blast energy decreases with distance.
Presumably the peak overpressure would deteriorate with distance
due to pulse dispersion.
Am I all wet, or do people do things like this? Any desert tests
planned in the near future ;-) ?
--
John Moore HAM:NJ7E CAP:Thunderbird 381
Computer: ...{asuvax,mcdphx}!anasaz!john or john@anasaz.UUCP
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Opinion: Support ALL of the bill of rights, INCLUDING the 2nd amendment!
Advice: Long palladium, short petroleum ;-)terryr@ogicse.ogi.edu (Terry Rooker) (09/04/90)
From: terryr@ogicse.ogi.edu (Terry Rooker) In article <1990Sep2.060830.2771@cbnews.att.com> military@cbnews.ogi.edu writes: > > >Can someone describe the characteristics of fuel air munitions. > A fuel air explosive (FAE) works by first dispersing an explosive mist, and then detonating that mist. In effect it is a poor man's nuclear warhead. The intent is to get the advantage of the blast effects of a nuclear warhead without all the attendent problems, and undesireable effects. The overpressures achieved approach those of a nuclear explosion, so the goal seems to be satisfied. >What is the relative yield of a 1000 pound FAM vs 1000 # traditional explosive? > The destructive effect is different so I am not sure there is a straightforward measure to compare the two weapons. Part of the problem is that the FAE mist will disperse over a wider area, and the conventional HE will be concentrated. >Do FAM's ever deploy a "shaped charge." > Shaped charge in the context of FAE is meaningless. To gain the effect of shpaing the charge, you need to be able to shape the charge. I am not sure how you would get the necessary concave dispersal of the mist. Since a FAE is a blast effect weapon you can take advantage of the Mach stem effect first discovered in nuclear weapons. If you use an air burst (the weapon detonated a pre-defined distance above the ground) with the altitude carefully set, the reflection of the shock wave will constructively interfere with the shock wave, magnifying its intensity. If you consider that there is a 3-6 psi overpressure concentrated into a fraction of a second, the damage can be considerable. The blast wave can dislodge rotating components (such as turrets), and knock over or break exposed antenna. Being under cover does not necessarily protect against the balst effect. -- Terry Rooker terryr@cse.ogi.edu