Incendiary ammunition. Topic: modern conventional weapons Methods and means of using incendiary weapons

12.03.2020

An incendiary weapon is a means for destroying enemy personnel and military equipment, the action of which is based on the use of incendiary substances. Incendiary weapons include incendiary ammunition and fire mixtures, as well as the means of their delivery to the target.

An incendiary substance is a specially selected substance or mixture of substances capable of igniting, burning steadily and ensuring the maximum manifestation of the damaging factors of incendiary weapons during combat use.

The main damaging factor of incendiary weapons is the release of thermal energy and combustion products toxic to humans.

An important distinguishing combat property of an incendiary weapon is its ability to cause secondary fire processes, which, in terms of thermal power and the scale of the manifestation of damaging factors, can many times exceed the primary fire effect on the target.

The second important feature of the damaging effect of the ZZhO in relation to manpower is the "production" of a huge number of burn wounds, entailing the withdrawal of manpower from the system and prolonged hospitalization, i.e., as a rule, irretrievable losses. The third feature of the damaging effect of ZZhO is the high moral and psychological impact on the enemy's manpower.

All modern incendiary substances, depending on their composition, are divided into three main groups: incendiary mixtures based on petroleum products, metallized incendiary mixtures based on petroleum products, incendiary mixtures based on thermite.

A special group of incendiary substances are ordinary and plasticized phosphorus, alkali metals, a self-igniting mixture based on triethylene aluminum.

Incendiary mixtures based on petroleum products are divided into non-thickened (liquid) and thickened (viscous).

Unthickened incendiary mixtures - are prepared from gasoline, diesel fuel and lubricating oils. They ignite well and are used from knapsack flamethrowers.

Thickened incendiary mixtures are viscous gelatinous substances consisting of gasoline or other liquid fuel mixed with various thickeners. They got the name napalm. They are a viscous mass that adheres well to various surfaces and resembles rubber glue in appearance. The color of the mass is from pink to brown, depending on the thickener.

Napalm is highly flammable, but burns with a burning temperature of 1100-12000C and a duration of 5-10 minutes. In addition, napalm B has increased adhesion even to wet surfaces and emits toxic fumes during combustion, which irritate the eyes and respiratory organs. It is also lighter than water, which allows it to burn on its surface.

When light metals (sodium) are added to napalm, the mixture is called "super napalm", which spontaneously ignites on a target, especially on water or snow. Metallized mixtures based on petroleum products (pyrogels) are a kind of napalm mixtures with the addition of aluminum, magnesium powders or heavy petroleum products (asphalt, fuel oil) and some types of combustible polymers.

In appearance - a thick mass with a grayish tint, burning with flashes with a combustion temperature of up to 16000C, a burning time of 1-3 minutes.

Pyrogels are distinguished by the quantitative content of the combustible base:

Thermite compositions - are powdered mixtures of iron oxide and aluminum. Their compositions may include barium nitrate, sulfur, binders (varnishes, oils). Ignition temperature 13000C, combustion temperature 30000C. burning thermite is a liquid mass that does not have an open flame, burning without air access. Able to burn sheets of steel, duralumin, melt metal objects. It is used to equip incendiary mines, shells, small-caliber bombs, hand-held incendiary guarantors and checkers.

White phosphorus is a solid waxy substance that ignites spontaneously in air and burns with the release of thick, acrid white smoke. Ignition temperature 340C, combustion temperature 12000C. It is used as a smoke-forming substance, as well as an igniter for napalm and pyrogel in incendiary ammunition.

Plasticized phosphorus is a mixture of white phosphorus with a viscous solution of synthetic rubber. It is pressed into granules, which, when broken, are crushed, acquiring the ability to stick to vertical surfaces and burn through them. It is used in smoke ammunition (air bombs, shells, mines, hand grenades) as an igniter in incendiary bombs and land mines.

Electron is an alloy of magnesium, aluminum and other elements. Ignition temperature 6000C, combustion temperature 28000C. burns with a dazzling white or bluish flame. It is used for the manufacture of aviation incendiary bomb cases.

Self-igniting incendiary mixture - consists of polyisobutylene and aluminum triethylene (liquid fuel).

Ways and means of using incendiary weapons

According to current views, the ZZhO can be used independently or in combination with other means of destruction. It should be applied massively, in the main direction, which ensures the greatest effectiveness of its combat use. At the same time, the use of ZZhO is organized and carried out in the system of complex fire engagement of the enemy to solve the following combat missions:

1. Rapid defeat on land and on water of large masses of open and partially sheltered enemy manpower.
2. Damage to transport (landing) vehicles and special equipment, both on the battlefield and in places of their accumulation and concentration.
3. Creation of extensive landscape and object fires that destroy manpower, military equipment and material values.
4. Destruction of buildings and structures.
5. Ensuring the effective destruction of specific targets in the tactical depth of the enemy's battle formations, especially when fighting in populated areas.
6. Psychological impact on the manpower of the enemy in order to demoralize him.

To solve the problems of combat use in the army of a potential enemy, the following are used:

In the Air Force - incendiary aerial bombs, incendiary tanks, cassettes; - in the ground forces - artillery shells, mines, tank, self-propelled, knapsack flamethrowers, incendiary grenades, land mines.

Incendiary aviation ammunition is divided into napalm (fire) incendiary bombs and incendiary cartridges and cluster installations.

Napalm bombs are thin-walled containers made of steel and aluminum alloys (0.5 - 0.7 mm thick) filled with napalm.

Napalm bombs that do not have stabilizers and an explosive projectile are called tanks. They are used on fighter-bombers and attack aircraft.

Aviation clusters (create fires over large areas) are disposable shells containing from 50 to 600-800 small-caliber incendiary bombs and a device that disperses them. They are used in aircraft and helicopter aviation.

Artillery incendiary ammunition is used in multi-barrel rocket launchers (made on the basis of thermite, electron, napalm, phosphorus).

Knapsack flamethrowers, the action of which is based on the release of a fire mixture through compressed air.

Rocket-propelled grenade launchers have in addition to the incendiary grenade a cumulative and chemical grenade equipped with a poisonous substance CS.

Rifle incendiary bullets - designed mainly to destroy manpower, as well as to set fire to engines, combustible and flammable materials. Firing range - 120 m.

The incendiary-smoke cartridge is an individual infantry weapon and is designed to combat manpower and armored vehicles. Equipped with a mixture of powdered phosphorus and magnesium. Flame temperature 1200°C. throwing range 100 m, effective 50-60 m. When burning, a large amount of smoke is released.

Landmines - designed to destroy manpower, equipment, as well as to reinforce explosive and non-explosive obstacles.

In the First World War, various types of incendiary projectiles appeared: aerial bombs, arrows, artillery and mortar shells, bullets and hand grenades. Incendiary ammunition, which is in service with modern armies, is represented by a large number of incendiary artillery shells, grenades, sabers, cartridges and other means that are intended to destroy various targets.

Incendiary bullets loaded with yellow phosphorus first appeared in World War I and were intended to ignite balloons and aircraft. After all, both huge Zeppelins and nimble airplanes turned out to be very vulnerable to fire. Combat experience has shown that an ordinary tracer bullet has a great incendiary effect, and even one special incendiary one was often enough to destroy an enemy aircraft. Therefore, incendiary bullets are most widely used in aviation. And it was the incendiary bullet that became the gravedigger of combat airships, since a tiny fighter destroyed a giant zeppelin in one burst, in which combustible hydrogen was the carrier gas. By the way, in the ground forces, the use of incendiary bullets is prohibited by the Hague and Geneva conventions, as a type of weapon that causes especially serious injuries and suffering to a person. But, so to speak, semi-legally, they were used by almost all the warring parties, shyly calling them sighting. What can you do, combat effectiveness is first of all ...

Later it was noticed that the standard flare also perfectly sets fire to flammable objects. Therefore, they were used by the troops as an improvised incendiary means.

Molotov cocktails were the first to be used by the Spanish Republicans against Francoist tanks in 1936. During the Second World War, "liquid grenades" were already massively used by all the warring parties.

Incendiary hand grenades appeared in the First World War. They were of two types: phosphorus (incendiary smoke) and thermite. The latter burn for 3-4 minutes. and could be used to render metal tools and machines unusable. Ignition was carried out before throwing or at the time of throwing a grenade.

The German Armed Forces have adopted DM-24 and DM-34 hand-held incendiary-smoke cartridges. They are individual weapons and are designed to combat armored vehicles, create fires, as well as to blind and smoke out manpower from defensive structures, basements and various shelters. Their equipment is a mixture of red phosphorus and powdered magnesium
(flame temperature 1200°C).

Rifle incendiary grenades in the First World War were used extremely rarely. They found use only in the interwar period, and their use is limited to special cases of positional or mountain warfare. They somewhat resemble the device and equipment of hand grenades. They were used from the then widespread rifle grenade launchers and rifle mortars. The flight range of a rifle grenade is 150-200 m. They are equipped with phosphorus, thermite or a mixture of thermite and electron.
The modern rifle grenade can be fired from standard small arms or thrown by hand. It is made of sheet steel and equipped with white phosphorus. For firing from a rifle (automatic), a special device with an expelling powder cartridge is used, which allows you to throw a grenade at a distance of up to 120 m. When it falls to the ground, it explodes, scattering pieces of phosphorus in a radius of 25-30 m, which set fire to flammable objects and vegetation (grass, shrub, forest).

There are special incendiary artillery shells that work on the same principles as incendiary aerial bombs: they are divided into grenades with a concentrated effect and shrapnel with a scattering effect.

An incendiary mine, fired from a conventional mortar, upon explosion showers the target with a shower of sparks, ash, burning incendiary equipment (phosphorus), flames, a rain of molten metal or slag (thermite). Mines can also be equipped with 3B mixtures, for example, coal tar shoulder straps mixed with phosphorus, TNT dissolved in carbon disulfide, a self-igniting substance. Such mines burn very intensely for several minutes, emitting strong smoke.

Incendiary rockets in their appearance and equipment are somewhat reminiscent of incendiary mines. The principle of their operation is based on the reactive action of powder gases from the charge of gunpowder contained in the reactive chamber. For stabilization in flight, they are equipped with an elongated stabilizer of a special shape.
American experts consider the modern experimental incendiary unguided rocket E42R2 to be quite effective, the body of which is made of fiberboard and holds about 19 kg of fire mixture.

Incendiary checkers and cartridges (flares, flares) are used for signaling, burning secret documents, ciphers, direct-printing devices, secret components and mechanisms of military equipment, as well as materials that ignite at high temperatures. In the US Army, there are about a dozen types of such tools, which practically do not differ from each other in terms of device, but have different weights. Their main equipment is termites, sodium nitrate and napalm. Cases of checkers and cartridges are made of tin or cardboard, equipped with electric and lever (or grating) igniters. When the igniter burns, the transitional, and then the main composition, is ignited, which melts the tin case, and the burning mass is poured onto the ignited object.

Saboteurs-arsonists used sabotage incendiary mines. Both regular incendiary bombs and special equipment disguised as ordinary household items were used.

Incendiary (fire) land mines, which are used mainly to destroy enemy manpower and reinforce mine-explosive barriers, have gained a certain distribution. They, according to military experts, are the most effective of improvised and improvised means.

Land mines are widely used in troop maneuvers and exercises as atomic explosion simulators. To do this, a tank with napalm is dug into the ground, under which a detonating cord is preliminarily laid in coils. The psychological effect of an explosion usually exceeds all expectations: a fireball, a flash and a "mushroom" look just like "atomic" ones, only without the shock wave and radiation (which we all know well from Hollywood productions). Usually, the troops, if they were not warned in advance, are sure that real tactical nuclear weapons were used in these exercises (cases of psychoses and military personnel receiving combat mental injuries were noted).

From the very moment of its birth, various incendiary munitions have been widely used in aviation: bombs, arrows, cassettes, ampoules, thermite and phosphorus balls.

Modern incendiary air bombs are designed to create fires and to directly destroy manpower and military equipment with fire. The caliber of most incendiary bombs ranges from 1.5 to 500 kg. Incendiary air bombs of 1.5-2.5 kg caliber are equipped with thermite compositions, the basis of which is thermite (a mixture of iron oxides with aluminum). During the burning of thermite, slags are formed with a temperature of 2500-3000 ° C. For the manufacture of cases of thermite bombs, a combustible metal electron (an alloy of aluminum and magnesium) is often used, which burns together with thermite. Small incendiary air bombs are dropped from carriers in disposable bomb clusters.

Among the means of delivering incendiary substances through the air, two groups of ammunition are known: incendiary bombs (IAB) and napalm bombs. ZAB usually have a small caliber and are used in cassettes or bundles. The first cassettes appeared in the interwar period. In Vietnam, American aviation for the first time widely used cassettes, in which there were 800 pieces.

Napalm bombs are thin-walled tanks made of sheet steel, aluminum or magnesium-aluminum alloys, equipped with napalm mixtures with the addition of phosphorus and sodium. Usually they do not have stabilizers and are essentially tanks that are suspended from the outside of the aircraft (from 2 to 6 tanks). When they are released, when they hit an obstacle (target), fuses and igniters of incendiary substances are triggered.

Incendiary air bombs of IUU-500 kg caliber are equipped with organic combustible substances (gasoline, kerosene, toluene), thickened to a jelly-like state. As thickeners, aluminum salts of macromolecular acids, artificial rubbers, etc. are used. Unlike liquid fuel, a thickened fire mixture is crushed by an explosion into large pieces that are scattered over long distances and burn at a temperature of 1000-1200 ° C for several minutes. The fire mixture adheres well to various surfaces and is difficult to remove from them. The combustion of the fire mixture occurs due to the oxygen of the air, therefore, within the radius of action of the incendiary bomb,
a significant amount of carbon dioxide, which has a toxic effect on people. To increase the combustion temperature of the fire mixture to 2000-2500 ° C in it
combustible metal powders are added.

A variety of incendiary bombs are high-explosive incendiary bombs designed to destroy various structures (fuel and ammunition depots, oil storage facilities, etc.) by fire and high-explosive action. Pyrotechnic compositions used to equip high-explosive incendiary bombs have the ability to explode, forming a fiery sphere. Thermite cartridges ignite and are scattered by explosion products, creating separate fires.

Characteristics of incendiary weapons. Incendiary substances, their composition and combat properties. Ways and means of using incendiary weapons

Characteristics of incendiary weapons

incendiary weapons- a means for defeating enemy manpower and military equipment, the action of which is based on the use of incendiary substances. Incendiary weapons include incendiary ammunition and fire mixtures, as well as the means of their delivery to the target.

incendiary substance- a special selected substance or mixture of substances capable of igniting, burning steadily and providing the maximum manifestation of the damaging factors of incendiary weapons during combat use.
The main damaging factor of incendiary weapons is the release of thermal energy and combustion products toxic to humans.

An important distinguishing combat property Incendiary weapons (IFW) is its ability to cause secondary fire processes, which, in terms of thermal power and the scale of the manifestation of damaging factors, can many times exceed the primary fire effect on the target.

The second important feature The damaging effect of ZZhO in relation to manpower is the "production" of a huge number of burn wounds, entailing the withdrawal of manpower from the system and prolonged hospitalization, i.e., as a rule, irretrievable losses.

The third feature The damaging effect of ZZhO is a high moral and psychological impact on the manpower of the enemy.

Incendiary substances, their composition and combat properties

A special group of incendiary substances are ordinary and plasticized phosphorus, alkali metals, a self-igniting mixture based on triethylene aluminum.

Incendiary mixtures based on petroleum products- are divided into non-thickened (liquid) and thickened (viscous).

Unthickened incendiary mixtures- prepared from gasoline, diesel fuel and lubricating oils. They ignite well and are used from knapsack flamethrowers.

Thickened incendiary mixtures- viscous gelatinous substances, consisting of gasoline or other liquid fuel, mixed with various thickeners. They got the name napalm. They are a viscous mass that adheres well to various surfaces and resembles rubber glue in appearance. The color of the mass is from pink to brown, depending on the thickener.

When light metals (sodium) are added to napalm, the mixture is called "super napalm", which spontaneously ignites on a target, especially on water or snow.
Metallized mixtures based on petroleum products (pyrogels) are a kind of napalm mixtures with the addition of aluminum, magnesium powders or heavy petroleum products (asphalt, fuel oil) and some types of combustible polymers.

By appearance- a thick mass with a grayish tint, burning with flashes with a combustion temperature of up to 16000C, a burning time of 1-3 minutes.

Pyrogels are distinguished by the quantitative content of the combustible base

Thermite compounds- are powdered mixtures of iron oxide and aluminum. Their compositions may include barium nitrate, sulfur, binders (varnishes, oils). Ignition temperature 13000C, combustion temperature 30000C. burning thermite is a liquid mass that does not have an open flame, burning without air access. Able to burn sheets of steel, duralumin, melt metal objects. It is used to equip incendiary mines, shells, small-caliber bombs, hand-held incendiary guarantors and checkers.

White phosphorus- a solid waxy substance that ignites spontaneously in air and burns with the release of thick, acrid white smoke. Ignition temperature 340C, combustion temperature 12000C. It is used as a smoke-forming substance, as well as an igniter for napalm and pyrogel in incendiary ammunition.

Plasticized phosphorus- a mixture of white phosphorus with a viscous solution of synthetic rubber. It is pressed into granules, which, when broken, are crushed, acquiring the ability to stick to vertical surfaces and burn through them. It is used in smoke ammunition (aircraft bombs, shells, mines, hand grenades) as an igniter in incendiary bombs and land mines.

Self-igniting incendiary mixture- consists of polyisobutylene and triethylene aluminum (liquid fuel).

Ways and means of using incendiary weapons

1. Rapid defeat on land and on water of large masses of open and partially sheltered enemy manpower.

2. Damage to transport (landing) vehicles and special equipment, both on the battlefield and in places of their accumulation and concentration.

3. Creation of extensive landscape and object fires that destroy manpower, military equipment and material values.

4. Destruction of buildings and structures.

5. Ensuring the effective destruction of specific targets in the tactical depth of the enemy's battle formations, especially when fighting in populated areas.

6. Psychological impact on the manpower of the enemy in order to demoralize him.

To solve the problems of combat use in the army of a potential enemy, the following are used:

In the Air Force - incendiary aerial bombs, incendiary tanks, cassettes;

In the ground forces - artillery shells, mines, tank, self-propelled, knapsack flamethrowers, incendiary grenades, land mines.

Incendiary aviation munitions subdivided into napalm (fire) incendiary bombs and incendiary cartridges and cluster installations.

Napalm bombs- thin-walled containers made of steel and aluminum alloys (0.5 - 0.7 mm thick) filled with napalm.
Napalm bombs that do not have stabilizers and an explosive projectile are called tanks. They are used on fighter-bombers and attack aircraft.
Aviation cassettes (create fires over large areas) are disposable shells containing from 50 to 600-800 small-caliber incendiary bombs and a device that disperses them. They are used in aircraft and helicopter aviation.

Artillery incendiary ammunition used in multi-barrel rocket launchers (made on the basis of thermite, electron, napalm, phosphorus).

Backpack flamethrowers, the action of which is based on the release of a fire mixture by means of compressed air.

rocket launchers they have in their ammunition, in addition to an incendiary grenade, a cumulative and chemical grenade equipped with a poisonous substance CS.

Rifle incendiary bullets- are intended mainly to destroy manpower, as well as to set fire to engines, combustible and flammable materials. Firing range - 120 m.

Incendiary smoke cartridge- is an individual infantry weapon and is designed to combat manpower and armored vehicles. Equipped with a mixture of powdered phosphorus and magnesium. Flame temperature 1200°C. throwing range 100 m, effective 50-60 m. When burning, a large amount of smoke is released.
land mines- designed to defeat manpower, equipment, as well as to strengthen explosive and non-explosive obstacles.

Conventional means of destruction are weapons based on the use of the energy of explosives (HE) and incendiary mixtures (artillery, rocket and aviation ammunition, small arms, mines, incendiary ammunition and fire mixtures), as well as edged weapons. At the same time, the current level of development of science makes it possible to create conventional means of destruction on qualitatively new principles (infrasound, radiological, laser).

High precision weapons.

In a number of conventional means of destruction, a special place is occupied by weapons with high accuracy of hitting the target. Cruise missiles are an example. They are equipped with a complex combined control system that guides the missile to the target according to pre-compiled flight maps. The flight is prepared on the basis of information stored in the memory of the onboard computer from reconnaissance artificial earth satellites. During the execution of the task, these data are compared with the terrain and automatically corrected. The control system provides the cruise missile with low-altitude flight, which makes it difficult to detect and increases the probability of hitting the target.

The precision weapons are also guided ballistic missiles, aerial bombs, and clusters, artillery shells, torpedoes, reconnaissance-strike, anti-aircraft and anti-tank missile systems. High accuracy of hitting targets with these means is achieved:

aiming guided munitions at a visually observed target;

homing of ammunition using radar detection by reflection from the target surface;

combined aiming of ammunition at the target, i.e. controlled by an automated system for most of the flight path and homing at the final stage.

The effectiveness of high-precision weapons has been convincingly confirmed in local wars.

Certain types of unguided munitions. The most common ammunition related to conventional means of destruction are various types of air bombs - fragmentation, high-explosive, ball, as well as volumetric explosion ammunition.

fragmentation bombs used to kill people and animals. When a bomb explodes, a large number of fragments are formed, which scatter in different directions at a distance of up to 300 m from the explosion site. Fragments do not break through brick and wooden walls.

high-explosive aerial bombs designed to destroy all kinds of structures. They often have delayed fuses that fire automatically some time after the bomb is dropped.

Ball bombs can range in size from a tennis ball to a soccer ball and contain at least 300 metal or plastic balls with a diameter of 5-6 mm. The destructive radius of such weapons is 1.5-15 m. Some bombs are equipped with even more damaging material: from several hundred to several thousand of the same small balls, needles, arrows. They are dropped in special packages (cassettes), covering an area of 160-250 thousand m 2 .

Volumetric explosion ammunition sometimes referred to as "vacuum bombs". As a combat charge, they use liquid hydrocarbon fuel: ethylene or propylene oxide, methane. Volumetric explosion ammunition is a small container that is dropped from an aircraft by parachute. At a predetermined height, the container opens to release the mixture contained within. A gas cloud is formed, which is undermined by a special fuse and instantly ignites. A shock wave propagating at supersonic speed arises. Its power is 4-6 times higher than the energy of an explosion of a conventional explosive. In addition, during such an explosion, the temperature reaches 2500-3000°C. At the site of the explosion, a lifeless space is formed the size of a football field. In terms of its destructive ability, such a munition can be comparable to a tactical nuclear munition.

Since the fuel-air mixture of munitions of a volumetric explosion easily spreads and is able to penetrate into unpressurized rooms, as well as form in terrain folds, the simplest protective structures cannot save them from them.

The shock wave resulting from the explosion causes such injuries in people as brain contusion, multiple internal bleeding due to rupture of the connective tissues of internal organs (liver, spleen), rupture of eardrums.

The high lethality, as well as the ineffectiveness of existing measures to protect against volume explosion munitions, served as the basis for the United Nations to classify such weapons as inhumane means of warfare, causing undue human suffering. At a meeting of the Emergency Committee on Conventional Arms in Geneva, a document was adopted in which such ammunition is recognized as a type of weapon that requires a ban by the international community.

Incendiary weapon. Incendiary substances are those substances and mixtures that have a damaging effect as a result of the high temperature created during their combustion. They have the most ancient history, but they received significant development in the 20th century.

By the end of the First World War, incendiary bombs accounted for up to 40% of the total number of bombs dropped by German bombers on the cities of England. During the Second World War, this practice continued: incendiary bombs dropped in large numbers caused devastating fires in cities and industrial facilities.

incendiary weapons subdivided into: incendiary mixtures (napalms); metallized incendiary mixtures based on petroleum products (pyrogel); thermite and thermite compounds; white phosphorus.

Napalm considered the most effective fire mixture. It is based on gasoline (90-97%) and thickener powder (3-10%). It is distinguished by good flammability and increased adhesion even to wet surfaces, it is able to create a high-temperature focus (1000-1200 ° C) with a burning time of 5-10 minutes. Since napalm is lighter than water, it floats on its surface while retaining its ability to burn. Burning produces black poisonous smoke. Napalm bombs were widely used by US troops during the Vietnam War. They burned settlements, fields and forests.

Pirogel consists of petroleum products with the addition of powdered magnesium (aluminum), liquid asphalt and heavy oils. The high combustion temperature allows it to burn through a thin layer of metal. An example of a pyrogel is the Electron metallized incendiary mixture (an alloy of 96% magnesium, 3% aluminum and 1% other elements). This mixture ignites at 600°C and burns with a dazzling white or bluish flame reaching a temperature of 2800°C. It is used to make aviation incendiary bombs.

Thermite compounds- pressed powdery mixtures of iron and aluminum with the addition of barium nitrate, sulfur and binders (lacquer, oil). They burn without access to air, the combustion temperature reaches 3000 ° C. At this temperature, concrete and brick crack, iron and steel burn.

White phosphorus- a translucent, poisonous solid substance, similar to wax. It is able to ignite spontaneously when combined with atmospheric oxygen. The combustion temperature reaches 900-1200 °C. Used primarily as a napalm igniter and smoke generating agent. Causes burns and poisoning.

incendiary weapons it can be in the form of aerial bombs, cassettes, artillery incendiary ammunition, flamethrowers, various incendiary grenades. Incendiaries cause very severe burns, burnouts. In the process of their burning, the air quickly heats up, which causes burns in the upper respiratory tract in people who inhale it.

REMEMBER! Incendiary substances that have fallen on personal protective equipment or outerwear must be quickly discarded, and if there are few of them, cover with a sleeve, hollow clothing, turf to stop burning. You can not knock down the burning mixture with your bare hand, shake it off on the run!

If a fire mixture gets on a person, they throw a cape, jacket, tarpaulin, burlap on him. You can immerse yourself in burning clothes in water or bring down the fire by rolling on the ground.

To protect against incendiary mixtures, protective structures and their fire-fighting equipment are being built, and fire extinguishing means are being prepared.

In the First World War, various types of incendiary projectiles appeared: aerial bombs, arrows, artillery and mortar shells, bullets and hand grenades. Incendiary ammunition, which is in service with modern armies, is represented by a large number of incendiary artillery shells, grenades, checkers, cartridges and other means that are intended to destroy various targets.

Bullet combined action. 1 - bullet shell, 2 - armor-piercing tip, 3 - bursting charge, 4 - cup, 5 - incendiary composition, 6 - tracer composition, 7 - ignition composition

During the First World War, the following 5 types of incendiary bullets were most widely used: French Ph (Phosphore); French Parno; French caliber 11 mm; German S.Pr.; English S.A. Buckingham type. Incendiary bullets of the first two samples have the following device in general: inside the bullet there is a cylindrical channel filled with white phosphorus. Two metal discs with a gasket are inserted behind. In the lower part of the bullet, in its side wall near the disks themselves, there is a hole for the exit of phosphorus, filled with a special fusible compound (cork). When fired, powder gases melt this composition and phosphorus begins to flow out of the open hole in the bullet wall.

Incendiary bullets of the last two samples have a slightly different device: white phosphorus is embedded in the copper nickel-plated shell of the bullet, a lead plug is inserted behind; on the inside, a free lead cylinder with longitudinal channels for the passage of phosphorus adjoins the lead plug. In the shell, as in the bullets of the above design, at a distance of about 1/5 of the length of the bullet from its rear cut, there is a hole for the exit of phosphorus, filled with a fusible composition.

7.7 mm English rifle cartridges: 1 - cartridge with an incendiary (phosphorus) bullet, 2 - cartridge with an armor-piercing incendiary (phosphorus) bullet

7.9 mm German rifle cartridges. Cartridge with armor-piercing incendiary bullet PtK, cartridge with sighting bullet B. Patrone, cartridge with incendiary (phosphorus) bullet

When fired, powder gases melt this composition (open a hole), and when a bullet hits an obstacle (target), the free lead cylinder tends to move forward by inertia and squeezes phosphorus through its channels into the outlet.

Later it was noticed that the standard flare also perfectly sets fire to flammable objects. Therefore, they were used by the troops as an improvised incendiary means.

12.7-mm Italian armor-piercing incendiary cartridge - B-Z-T tracer bullet. 1 - outer shell of the bullet, 2 - shell of the nose, 3 - armor-piercing core, 4 - nose, 5 - tracer cup, 6 - tracer ring, 7 - shirt, 8 - incendiary composition, 9 - tracer composition, 10 - celluloid gasket (circle )

7.9-mm Polish rifle cartridges: 1 - a cartridge with an incendiary (phosphorus) bullet for infantry, 2 - a cartridge with an incendiary (phosphorus) bullet for aviation

Grenades equipped with phosphorus are used simultaneously as incendiary and smoke grenades. They are used to smoke the enemy out of shelters, trenches, and also to damage gas masks.

Thermite incendiary grenades are used when dropping them into trenches, shelters, for setting fire to bushes, wooden buildings, to render weapons, engines of cars and aircraft, their load-bearing parts, etc., unusable.

7.62 mm American rifle cartridge with incendiary bullet

12.7 mm american cartridge with incendiary bullet

7.7 mm Japanese rifle cartridge with an incendiary (phosphorus) bullet

The modern rifle grenade can be fired from standard small arms or thrown by hand. It is made of sheet steel and equipped with white phosphorus. For firing from a rifle (automatic), a special device with an expelling powder cartridge is used, which allows you to throw a grenade at a distance of up to 120 m. When it falls to the ground, it explodes, scattering pieces of phosphorus in a radius of 25-30 m, which set fire to flammable objects and vegetation (grass, shrub, forest).

Incendiary bullets: a - sighting and incendiary; b - armor-piercing incendiary; c - armor-piercing incendiary tracer. 1 - shell - steel clad with tompak; 2 - incendiary composition; 3 - steel core; 4 - lead shirt; 5 - brass circle; 6 - brass cup; 7 - steel drummer with a sting; 8 - brass fuse (split ring); 9 - capsule; 10 - iron gasket; 11 - tracer composition; 12 - ringlet; 13 - hole

During the First World War, they had little use. They were equipped with combustible mixtures or thermite. Phosphorus shells, usually classified as smoke shells, can sometimes also be used as incendiary ones.

Incendiary shells for Stokes mortars and Livens gas launchers were also little used. The first were equipped with thermite, the second - with lumps of tow soaked in a combustible liquid.

In modern artillery, incendiary shells are used more widely. Incendiary segments (elements) are located in the body. Each such element is a metal shell filled with an incendiary composition, such as thermite. When a projectile breaks, incendiary elements are thrown at a high speed onto the object of fire. When burning an incendiary composition, a high temperature develops up to 2500-3000 ° C. Incendiary projectiles have a fairly strong damaging effect and a large psychological effect.

Modern incendiary artillery projectile: 1 - remote tube, 2 - screw head, 3 - incendiary elements, 4 - body, 5 - diaphragm, 6 - expelling charge

An incendiary mine, fired from a conventional mortar, upon explosion showers the target with a shower of sparks, ash, burning incendiary equipment (phosphorus), flames, a rain of molten metal or slag (thermite). Mines can also be loaded with pollutant mixtures, for example, coal tar shoulder straps mixed with phosphorus, TNT dissolved in carbon disulfide, a self-igniting substance. Such mines burn very intensely for several minutes, emitting strong smoke.

The Germans in World War II used 320 mm incendiary mines (30-CM.WK) with a turbojet engine and equipped with 50 liters of oil. One mine caused a fire on an area of 200 m 2 with a flame up to 2-3 m high.

During the First World War, incendiary rockets were used, which were called "burning onions" (Brennende Zwiebel). These missiles were loaded with phosphorus; they had the task of setting fire to enemy aircraft. The Italian incendiary rocket Petardo inciendiaria Carasco was equipped with a solution of phosphorus in carbon disulfide with the addition of naphthalene; their range was from 1000 to 1500 m. Rockets can have a variety of incendiary equipment, ranging from phosphorus to thermite.

American experts consider the modern experimental incendiary unguided rocket E42R2 to be quite effective, the body of which is made of fiberboard and holds about 19 kg of fire mixture.

Incendiary checkers and cartridges (flares, flares) are used for signaling, burning secret documents, ciphers, direct-printing devices, secret components and mechanisms of military equipment, as well as materials that ignite at high temperatures. In the US Army, there are about a dozen types of such tools, which practically do not differ from each other in terms of device, but have different weights. Their main equipment is thermites, sodium nitrate and napalm. Cases of checkers and cartridges are made of tin or cardboard, equipped with electric and lever (or grating) igniters. When the igniter burns, the transitional, and then the main composition, is ignited, which melts the tin case, and the burning mass is poured onto the ignited object.

Thermite ZAB-2.5T; 1 - body; 2 - igniter checker; 3 - transition composition; 4 - termite-healing composition; 5 - cardboard lining; 6 - bottom plug; 7 - stabilizer; 8 - gas outlets

Saboteurs-arsonists used sabotage incendiary mines. Both regular incendiary bombs and special equipment disguised as ordinary household items were used.

A standard thermite block is a briquette of pressed thermite with an ignition star built into it or with an igniter composition pressed with the main thermite equipment in a paper or cardboard shell. A small piece (5-8 cm) of fickford cord is attached to the star or fire-flammable composition. The checker is ignited by placing a match on the core of the Fickford cord cut and then igniting it by rubbing with a matchbox grease (a common demolition technique).

The thermite cartridge is a metal or cardboard cylinder filled with a thermite mixture with a separate ignition star or with thermite equipment pressed together and an igniter composition with or without a short retarder (fickford cord, stopin) or without it, with a grating head at the top.

Sabotage incendiary shells had a very different design and appearance. They were made in the form of pencils, fountain pens, cigarette boxes, even tools and various items common in everyday life (the use of incendiary devices designed in the form of a hammer, wrench, planer, etc. is known). For example, German intelligence during the First World War, and in the subsequent period between the wars, widely used incendiary "cigars", which were a metal tube the size of an ordinary cigar, equipped with a strong incendiary composition and a chemical fuse. The kit for the manufacture of the infernal machine included a lead pipe, sulfuric acid, bertolet salt and sugar. The device was actively used during the war of 1914-1918. German agents in the USA. They laid them in the bunkers of cargo ships loaded with ammunition and sent to Europe. After the allotted time, after the ship went to sea, the fuse worked and the device created a strong fire with a high flame temperature. As a result, the epidemic of fires spread to the Atlantic shipping lines, like chicken pox in kindergartens.

They can be made by hand using any standard containers and incendiary mixtures. Undermining and ignition of these land mines is carried out with the help of special industrial-made igniter-explosive cartridges installed in them. In order to replace improvised incendiaries, the US Army created the XM54 anti-personnel landmine, equipped with plasticized white phosphorus. When the fuse (pull and push action) is triggered, the expelling charge ejects the explosive equipment to a height of about 3 m, where it bursts. Fragments of metal and phosphorus scatter within a radius of up to 25 m. To obtain a large number of fragments, a land mine is wrapped with barbed wire. Land mines are mainly used to destroy manpower and to reinforce engineering mine-explosive and non-explosive barriers.

Land mines according to the device and principle of operation are divided into land mines of directional and non-directional action. In the United States, a universal explosive projectile has been developed that can be used to break the shell of containers with a capacity of 190-208 liters and set fire to the incendiary mixture contained in them.

Land mines are widely used in troop maneuvers and exercises as atomic explosion simulators. To do this, a tank with napalm is dug into the ground, under which a detonating cord is preliminarily laid in coils. The psychological effect of an explosion usually exceeds all expectations; the fireball, flash and "mushroom" look just like "atomic" ones, only without the shock wave and radiation (which we all know well from Hollywood productions). Usually, the troops, if they were not warned in advance, are sure that real tactical nuclear weapons were used in these exercises (cases of psychoses and military personnel receiving combat mental injuries were noted).

In aviation, from the very moment of its birth, a variety of incendiary munitions have been widely used; bombs, arrows, cassettes, ampoules, thermite and phosphorus balls.

Among the means of delivering incendiary substances by air, two groups of ammunition are known; incendiary bombs (ZAB) and napalm bombs. ZAB usually have a small caliber and are used in cassettes or bundles. The first cassettes appeared in the interwar period. In Vietnam, American aviation for the first time widely used cassettes, in which there were 800 pieces. two-kilogram incendiary bombs. When the cassettes open in the air, the bombs disperse and create massive fires on an area of more than 1000 hectares (10 km 2!) (B-52 aircraft). Each such bomb forms an initial focus within a radius of 5 m, and a medium-caliber bomb - up to 50 m.

Napalm bombs are thin-walled tanks made of sheet steel, aluminum or magnesium-aluminum alloys, filled with napalm mixtures with the addition of phosphorus and sodium. Usually they do not have stabilizers and are essentially tanks that are suspended from the outside of the aircraft (from 2 to 6 tanks). When they are released, when they hit an obstacle (target), fuses and igniters of incendiary substances are triggered.

The burning mixture is scattered and forms a zone of intense fire on an area of 90x45 m (from each bomb). The height of the flame reaches several tens of meters. Clots of napalm burn for 15 minutes.

Incendiary air bombs of the BLU-500 kg caliber are equipped with organic combustible substances (gasoline, kerosene, toluene), thickened to a jelly-like state. As thickeners, aluminum salts of macromolecular acids, artificial rubbers, etc. are used. Unlike liquid fuel, a thickened fire mixture is crushed by an explosion into large pieces that are scattered over long distances and burn at a temperature of 1000-1200 ° C for several minutes. The fire mixture adheres well to various surfaces and is difficult to remove from them. The combustion of the fire mixture occurs due to the oxygen of the air, therefore, in the radius of action of an incendiary bomb, a significant amount of carbon dioxide is formed, which has a toxic effect on people. To increase the combustion temperature of the fire mixture to 2000-2500°C, combustible metal powders are added to it.

American BLU series napalm bomb: 1 ~ nose fairing; 2 ~ body; 3 - ears for suspension; 4 – tail fairing; 5 – fuse FMU-7B; 6 - igniter AN-M23A1; 7 - initiator; 8 - initiator installation site

In addition to the fire mixture, the bomb equipment includes 2 cartridges: one with phosphorus, the other with a bursting charge. An instantaneous contact fuse is screwed into the head of the bomb. When the fuse is triggered (when it hits an obstacle), an explosive charge is detonated, the explosion of which destroys the body of the bomb, crushes, mixes and scatters phosphorus and fire mixture. Phosphorus in the air spontaneously ignites and sets fire to pieces of the fire mixture.

For equipment with viscous fire mixtures, special thin-walled containers, called incendiary tanks, are also used. Incendiary tanks differ from incendiary aerial bombs in that they are intended only for external suspension on carriers. With the same caliber as high-explosive bombs, the tanks have larger geometric dimensions, but less weight.

Unitary incendiary bomb of the German type during the First World War

Somewhat later, napalm bombs equipped with phosphorus and thermite began to be widely used. In the mid-60s, the United States began to create new types of weapons designed to "suppress rebellions." One of them was a new improved version of napalm, obtained by military chemists at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida, napalm-B. The mixture was liquid enough to be dispersed in an explosion over a long distance, and at the same time sticky enough to stick to any object that it touched. One six-pound bomb (2.7 kg) could hit an area equal to a football field and fill it with a twenty-minute all-devouring flame with a temperature of up to 200 CGS. During the Vietnam War, a pair of American "Phantoms" dropped several tons of napalm in one sortie, placed in large-sized hanging tanks, covering an area of \u200b\u200btens of hectares at once with a flurry of fire. Napalm mercilessly burns its victims and fatally poisons those who do not have time to burn. As a result, even within a radius of several tens of meters from the source of combustion, all oxygen burned out in the surrounding air, which led to a suffocating effect - a large number of civilians simply suffocated in basements, trenches, shelters and shelters.

Incendiary ammunition. Topic: modern conventional weapons Methods and means of using incendiary weapons

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