All kinds of bombs. bomb rating. The most powerful non-nuclear munitions in history. The explosion of the "Tsar bomb" - to be or not to be

vacuum bomb is a non-systemic name for volumetric explosion ammunition. By itself this physical phenomenon, as a volumetric explosion, has long been known. In the 19th century at the time industrial revolution in Europe, strange explosions began to occur spontaneously not only in gunpowder, but even in flour mills, sugar and rope factories. Of course, they suspected the intrigues of enemies. But as physicists soon proved, foreign saboteurs had nothing to do with it. The reason for a volumetric explosion is that, at a certain concentration, a mixture of air with almost any solid and at least some combustible substance can theoretically detonate. Even powdered sugar, coal or wood dust can explode. Why is there dust from sawdust - a small volumetric explosion occurs in the cylinder of any car at each cycle. It's all about scale.

"Striking Ten"

1. AVBPM (Russia). Vacuum bomb, TNT equivalent - 44 tons. With an explosion at a distance of 100 m, there is a complete destruction of fortifications of any power, including underground bunkers. At a distance of 170-200 m, reinforced concrete fortifications like pillboxes completely collapse. At a distance of 450 - 500 m, any residential buildings crumble. It was not used in combat, but has already received the unofficial title of the father of all bombs.

2. GBU-43/B, aka MOAB - Massive Ordnance Air Blast, better known as the "Mother of all bombs" (USA). TNT equivalent - 11 tons. High-explosive aerial bomb, created in 2002 and equipped with a satellite guidance system. In 2017, it was used against the Islamic State tunnels (banned in Russia) in Afghanistan. 14 MOAB units remain in service.

3. BLU-82/B (USA). High-explosive aerial bomb with TNT equivalent of 10 tons. was developed during Vietnam War for clearing helipads in the jungle. Used in Operation Desert Storm and in Afghanistan. Due to their large dimensions, the bombers were not bombers, but transport aircraft C-130.

4. T-12 Cloudmaker - the heaviest in history (TNT equivalent of 7.5 tons) anti-bunker bomb, developed for the US Air Force in the late 1940s. Due to its huge dimensions, it could only be used by B-36 Peacemaker strategic bombers. After their decommissioning in 1959, it was also withdrawn from service. It has never been used in combat.

5. Grand Slam - high-explosive seismic bomb (Great Britain) TNT equivalent of 6.5 tons. After dropping from a height of 8 km to the ground to a depth of 40 m. As a result of an underground explosion, a seismic wave arose, causing damage to structures on the surface of the earth. Limited use during World War II.

6. FAB-9000 (USSR). Adopted in 1950. Designed to hit large fortifications. TNT equivalent 4.3 tons. In 1954, it was modernized and, in the FAB-9000M-54 version, was used in Afghan war. To date, there are no FAB-9000 carriers in the Russian Aerospace Forces.

7. Blockbuster Mk V - high-explosive bomb (UK, 1943) TNT equivalent up to 4 tons. It was widely used to bombard German cities - hence the name - blowing up the quarter.

8. "Jumping bomb" (Great Britain) - a special bomb designed to destroy dams on the rivers of Germany. TNT equivalent 2.5 tons. They were used only once in May 1943. They destroyed and damaged several hydraulic structures, causing flooding of territories and a decrease in the production of electricity and agricultural products.

9. Tallboy (Great Britain) TNT equivalent 2.3 tons. designed to destroy underground structures. It was used at the end of World War II to destroy the industrial and military facilities of Nazi Germany, which were impossible to hit with conventional bombs. These bombs sank the battleship Tirpitz and the heavy cruiser Admiral Scheer.

10. FAB-5000 (USSR) - Soviet air bomb, put into service in 1943. TNT equivalent of 2.2 tons. Used by the Red Army Air Force during the Great Patriotic War against the fortifications of Koenigsberg, on Kursk Bulge, 2 bombs were dropped on Helsinki. According to some reports, in the 80s it was used against the fortified positions of the Mujahideen during the Afghan war.

Atomic weapons are the most terrible and majestic invention of mankind. The power of destruction nuclear wave is so great that it can wipe out not only all living things, but even the most reliable structures and buildings. Only one nuclear stocks in Russia is enough to completely destroy our planet. And no wonder, since the country has the richest stockpile of atomic weapons, after the United States. The Soviet "Kuzkina mother" or "Tsar bomb", tested in 1961, became the most powerful atomic weapons of all time.

The TOP 10 included most powerful nuclear bombs in the world. Many of them were used for testing purposes, but brought irreparable harm to the environment. Others have become weapons in the settlement of military conflicts.

10. Little boy | Power 18 kilotons

little boy("Kid") - the first nuclear bomb that was not used for testing purposes. It was she who contributed to the end of the war between Japan and the United States. Little boy with a capacity of 18 kilotons caused the death of 140,000 residents of Hiroshima. A device 3 meters long and 70 cm in diameter created a nuclear pillar over 6 kilometers high. "Kid" and "following" him "Fat Man" brought considerable damage to two Japanese cities, which to this day remain uninhabited.

9 Fat Man | Power 21 kilotons

fat man(Fat Man) - the second nuclear bomb that the United States used against Japan. The victims of nuclear weapons were the inhabitants of the city of Nagasaki. An explosion with a capacity of 21 kilotons claimed the lives of 80 thousand people at once, and another 35 thousand died from radiation. This is the most powerful weapon in the entire existence of mankind, which was used for military purposes.

8. Trinity | Power 21 kilotons

(Thing) - the first bomb that marked the beginning of nuclear weapons testing. The wave of the shock explosion was 21 kilotons and rose as a cloud up to 11 kilometers. The first nuclear explosion in the history of mankind made a stunning impression on scientists. White clouds of smoke with a diameter of almost two kilometers rapidly rose up and formed the shape of a mushroom.

7. Baker | Power 21 kilotons

Baker(Baker) - one of the three atomic bombs that participated in Operation Crossroads ("Crossroads") in 1946. The tests were carried out to determine the effect of atomic shells on sea vessels and experimental animals. At a depth of 27 meters, an explosion with a capacity of 23 kilotons was made, which displaced about two million tons of water to the surface and formed a column of more than half a kilometer in height. "Baker" suffered "the world's first nuclear disaster." The radioactive island of Bikini, where the tests were carried out, became uninhabitable and was considered uninhabited until 2010.

6. Rhea | Power 955 kilotons

"- the most powerful atomic bomb tested by France in 1971. A projectile with a yield of 955 kilotons of TNT was blown up on the Mururoa atoll, which is a nuclear test site. More than 200 nuclear weapons were tested there until 1998.

5. Castle Romeo | Capacity 11 megatons

- one of the most powerful explosions produced by the United States. The operation was accepted for execution on March 27, 1954. The explosion was carried out on a barge in the open ocean, as it was feared that the bomb could destroy the nearby island. The power of the explosion was 11 megatons, instead of the expected 4 megatons. This is explained by the fact that cheap material was used as thermonuclear fuel.

4. Device Mike | Power 12 megatons

Mike device(Evie Mike) was initially of no value and was used as an experimental bomb. The height of the nuclear cloud was estimated at 37 km, and the diameter of the cloud cap was about 161 km. The strength of the nuclear wave "Mike" was estimated at 12 megatons of TNT. The power of the projectile was enough to wipe out the small islands of Elugelab, where the test was carried out. In their place, only a funnel with a diameter of 2 kilometers and a depth of 50 meters remained. Radioactively contaminated fragments from the reefs scattered 50 km from the epicenter of the explosion.

3. Castle Yankee | Capacity 13.5 megatons

- the second most powerful nuclear explosion produced by American testers. It was expected that the initial capacity of the device will be no more than 10 megatons of TNT. As it turned out, the nuclear explosion had a large force and was estimated at 13.5 megatons. The height of the stem of the nuclear fungus was 40 km, and the hat was 16 km. The radiation cloud reached Mexico City in four days, which is located 11,000 km from the site of the operation.

2 Castle Bravo | Capacity 15 megatons

Castle Bravo(Shrimp TX-21) is the most powerful atomic bomb ever tested in the US. The operation was carried out in March 1954 and suffered irreversible consequences. An explosion with a capacity of 15 megatons caused severe radiation contamination. Hundreds of people living in the Marshall Islands received radiation exposure. The stem of the nuclear mushroom exceeded 40 km, and the diameter of the cap was estimated at 100 km. The explosion caused the formation of seabed a huge funnel, 2 km in diameter. The consequences of the tests led to the limitation of operations carried out with nuclear projectiles.

1. Tsar bomb | Capacity 58 megatons

(AN602) - the most powerful Soviet nuclear bomb in the world of all time. An eight-meter projectile with a diameter of two meters was used as a test in 1961 in the archipelago New Earth. It was originally planned that the AN602 would have a capacity of 100 megatons, but being afraid of the global destructive power of weapons, they agreed that the explosion force would not exceed 58 megatons. At an altitude of 4 km, the Tsar Bomba was activated and gave stunning results. The diameter of the fiery cloud reached about 10 km. The nuclear pillar was about 67 km in height, and the diameter of the column's cap reached 97 km. Even being at a distance of 400 km from the epicenter of the explosion was extremely life-threatening. A powerful sound wave spread over almost a thousand kilometers. On the island where the test took place, there were no traces of life and no buildings, absolutely everything was level with the surface of the earth. The seismic wave of the explosion circled the entire planet three times, and every inhabitant of the planet could feel the full power of nuclear weapons. After this test, more than a hundred countries signed an agreement to stop this type of operation both in the atmosphere and under water and on land.

Atomic weapons are rightfully considered not only the most terrible, but also the most majestic invention of mankind. So much destructive power is hidden in it that not only all kinds of life, but also any, even the strongest structures, are swept away from the face of planet Earth by a blast wave. There are so many nuclear weapons in Russia's military storage facilities alone that their simultaneous detonation can lead to the destruction of our planet.

And this is not surprising because Russian reserves are in second place after the American ones. Representatives such as "Kuzkin's Mother" and "Tsar Bomba" are assigned the title of the most powerful weapon of all time. The TOP 10 lists nuclear bombs around the world that have or have had greatest potential. Some of them were used, causing irreparable harm to the ecology of the planet.

10th place. Little boy (Kid) with a capacity of 18 kilotons

This bomb was the first to be used not at the test site, but in real conditions. Its use has big influence to end the war between America and Japan. From the explosion of Little boy in the city of Hiroshima, one hundred and forty of its inhabitants were killed. This bomb was three meters long and seventy centimeters in diameter. The height of the nuclear pillar formed after the explosion was more than six kilometers. This city remains uninhabited to this day.

9th place. Fat Man (Fat Man) - 21 kilotons

This was the name of the second bomb dropped by an American plane on the city of Nagasaki. The victims of this explosion were eighty thousand citizens who died immediately, despite the fact that another thirty-five thousand people became victims of exposure. This bomb is still the most powerful weapon, throughout the history of mankind, the use of which was carried out to achieve military goals.

8th place. Trinity (Thing) - 21 kilotons

Trinity owns the palm among the nuclear bombs exploded in order to study reactions and ongoing processes. The shock wave of the explosion lifted a cloud to a height of eleven kilometers. The impression that was received by scientists who observed the first nuclear explosion in the history of man, they called stunning. Clouds of smoke white color in the form of a pillar, whose diameter reached two kilometers, they rapidly rose up, where they formed a hat in the form of a mushroom.

7th place. Baker (Baker) - 23 kilotons

Baker - this was the name of one of the three bombs that took part in the operation under code name Crossroads ("Crossroads"), which was held in 1946. During the test, the consequences of the explosion of atomic shells were studied. Animals and ships were used as test subjects. sea ​​class. The explosion was carried out at a depth of twenty-seven kilometers. As a result, about two million tons of water were displaced, which led to the formation of a pillar more than half a kilometer high. Baker triggered the world's first nuclear disaster. The radioactivity of the island of Bikini, which was chosen for testing, has reached such a level that it has become impossible to live on it. Until 2010, it was considered completely uninhabited.

6th place Rhea - 955 kilotons

Rhea is the most powerful atomic bomb, which was tested by France in 1971. The explosion of this projectile was carried out on the territory of the Mururoa Atoll, used as a testing ground for nuclear explosions. By 1998, over 200 nuclear projectiles had been tested there.

5th place. Castle Romeo - 11 megatons

Castle Romeo belongs to the category of one of the most powerful nuclear explosions carried out by America. The order to start the operation was signed on March 27, 1954. A barge was brought into the open ocean to carry out the explosion, as there were fears that an island located nearby could be destroyed by a bomb explosion. It was assumed that the explosion power would not exceed four megatons, but in fact it was equal to eleven megatons. During the investigation, it was revealed that the reason for this was the use of cheap material used as thermonuclear fuel.

4th place. Mike device - 12 megatons

Initially, Mike's device (Evie Mike) had no value and was used as an experimental bomb. The nuclear cloud from its explosion rose thirty-seven kilometers, and the cap of the cloud reached 161 kilometers in diameter. The strength of the nuclear wave was estimated at twelve megatons. This power turned out to be quite enough for the complete destruction of all the islands of Elugelab, on which the tests were carried out. Where they were, a funnel formed, reaching a diameter of two kilometers. Its depth was fifty meters. The distance over which the fragments that carried radioactive contamination scattered was fifty kilometers, if you count from the epicenter.

3rd place. Castle Yankee - 13.5 megatons

The second most powerful explosion carried out by American scientists was the explosion of Castle Yankee. Preliminary calculations made it possible to assume that the power of the device could not exceed ten megatons, in terms of TNT equivalent. But the actual force of the explosion was thirteen and a half megatons. The leg of the nuclear mushroom stretched for forty kilometers, and the hat for sixteen. Four days was enough for the radiation cloud to reach the city of Mexico City, the distance to which from the explosion site was eleven thousand kilometers.

2nd place. Castle Bravo (TX-21 Shrimp) - 15 megatons

The Americans did not test a more powerful bomb than Castle Bravo. The operation was carried out in 1954 and entailed irreversible consequences for the environment. As a result of a fifteen mega-ton explosion, a very strong radiation contamination occurred. Hundreds of people who lived in the Marshall Islands were exposed to radiation. The length of the nuclear fungus leg reached forty kilometers, and the hat stretched for a hundred kilometers. As a result of the explosion, a huge funnel was formed on the seabed, the diameter of which reached two kilometers. The consequences provoked by the tests forced the introduction of restrictions on operations in which nuclear projectiles were used.

1 place. Tsar bomb (AN602) - 58 megatons

There was not and is not more powerful than the Soviet Tsar Bomba in the whole world. The length of the projectile reached eight meters, and the diameter - two. In 1961, this projectile exploded on an archipelago called Novaya Zemlya. According to the original plans, the capacity of AN602 was to be one hundred megatons. However, scientists, fearing the global destructive power of such a charge, decided to stop at fifty-eight megatons. The Tsar Bomba was activated at an altitude of four kilometers. The consequences of this shocked everyone. The fiery cloud reached ten kilometers in diameter. The length of the “leg” of the nuclear fungus was about 67 km, and the diameter of the cap covered 97 km. A very real danger threatened even the lives of people living at a distance of less than 400 kilometers. Echoes of a powerful sound wave were heard at a distance of a thousand kilometers. The surface of the island on which the tests were carried out became absolutely flat without protrusions and any buildings on it. The seismic wave managed to go around the Earth three times, allowing each of its inhabitants to feel the full power carried by nuclear weapons. The result of this test was that representatives of more than a hundred countries signed an agreement prohibiting this type of test. It does not matter what medium is chosen for this - earth, water or atmosphere.

aircraft bomb or just an air bomb - one of the types aviation munitions dropped from an aircraft or other aircraft and separating from the holders under the action of gravity or with a low speed of forced separation.

By the beginning of World War I, not a single country in the world had more or less effective serial bombs. Then bombs or bombs in everyday life were also called hand grenades and rifle (rifle) grenades. At the same time, the expression "aeroplane bomb" originally meant, in fact, a heavy hand grenade, which was dropped from airplanes by pilots.

Often used as aerial bombs artillery shells caliber 75 mm and above. But by the end of the war in 1918, quite effective fragmentation, high-explosive, armor-piercing, chemical and smoke bombs were created in England, France and Germany. These bombs were equipped with wing or ring stabilizers and had a completely modern look.

... September 9, 1943. Mussolini is arrested, the Italian government wants a truce, and the Italian fleet goes to Malta to surrender. At 15:41, the battleship Roma (46,000 tons, nine 381 mm guns) was hit by german bomb, called Fritz-X (aka SD-1400). After flashing the hull, it burst under the boiler rooms. Second hit
blew up the ammunition cellars ...

The most powerful bombs of World War II: Tallboy and Grand Slam

Country: UK
Designed: 1942
Weight: 5.4 t
Mass of explosives: 2.4 t
Length: 6.35 m
Diameter: 0.95 m

Barney Wellis did not become a famous aircraft designer: his design for the Victory bomber was rejected by the British military. But he became famous as the creator of the most powerful ammunition of the Second World War. Knowledge of the laws of aerodynamics allowed him to design the Tallboy bomb in 1942. Thanks to its perfect aerodynamic shape, the bomb quickly gained speed and even broke the sound barrier in the fall if it was dropped from a height of more than 4 km.

It could penetrate 3 m of reinforced concrete, go deep into the ground by 35 m, and after its explosion a funnel with a diameter of 40 m remained. on large ships.

Thus, the German battleship Tirpitz, which was defending in the Norwegian fjord and representing great danger for convoys going to the USSR. On November 12, 1944, having received two more Tallboys, the ship capsized. In a word, these bombs were real military weapons, and not a useless race for records, and during the war years they were used not so few - 854 pieces.

Such success guaranteed Barney Wellis a place in history (he later received a knighthood) and inspired him to create the most powerful aerial bomb of the Second World War in 1943, in the design of which much was borrowed from Tallboy. The Grand Slam was also successful, showing steady flight (due to the rotation imparted by the fins) and high penetrating power: it could penetrate up to 7 m of reinforced concrete before bursting.

True, for Grand Slam there was no such target as the battleship known to the whole world, but her hits in shelters protected by a five-meter layer of concrete for German submarines made the right impression. She also carried aqueducts and dams that did not succumb to less powerful bombs. The Grand Slam fuse could be set to instant action (to hit targets with a shock wave) or to slow down (to destroy shelters), but in the latter case, the buildings "folded" hundreds of meters from the explosion: although the shock wave from a deep detonation was relatively weak, the vibrations foundations displaced soil.

Officially, the Grand Slam was called more than modestly - "Medium Capacity, 22000 lbs" - "medium capacity, 22000 pounds" (meaning the average value of the ratio of the weight of the bomb and its equipment), although in the press she received the nickname "Earthquake Bomb" ("bomb -earthquake"). Grand Slam entered service with the Royal Air Force at the end of the war, and in the months remaining before victory, British pilots dropped 42 such bombs. It was quite expensive, so if the target could not be found, the command strongly recommended that the crews not drop the Grand Slam over the sea, but land with it, although this was risky. In the Royal Air Force, four-engine Halifaxes and Lancasters were carriers of huge bombs. Copies of the "Grand Slam" were made in the United States.

The very first guided bomb: Fritz-X

Country: Germany
Designed: 1943
Weight: 1.362 t
Mass of explosives: 320 kg, ammatol
Length: 3.32 m
Tail span: 0.84 m

Fritz-X became the first combat model guided weapons. Its FuG 203/230 guidance system was clocked at about 49 MHz, and after being dropped, the aircraft had to maintain course so that the operator could follow the target and the bomb. With a deviation of up to 350 m along the course and 500 m in range, the flight of the bomb could be adjusted.

A non-maneuvering carrier is vulnerable to fighters and anti-aircraft fire, but distance served as protection: the recommended drop distance, like altitude, was 5 km. The Allies hastily developed jamming equipment, the Germans increased the production of bombs, and who knows how this race would have ended if not for the end of the war ...

The very first serial nuclear weapon: Mk-17/24

Country: USA
Start of production: 1954
Weight: 10.1 t
Energy release: 10–15 Mt
Length: 7.52 m
Diameter: 1.56 m

These thermonuclear bombs(The Mk-17 and Mk-24 differed only in the types of plutonium "fuses") - the first that can be categorized as real weapons: with them B-36 bombers of the US Air Force flew out on patrol. The design was not very reliable (part of the "fuse" was kept by the crew, who installed it in the bomb before being dropped), but everything obeyed one goal: to "squeeze out" the maximum energy release (there were no nodes that regulate the power of the explosion).

Despite slowing down the fall of the bomb with a 20-meter parachute, the not-too-fast B-36 barely had time to leave the affected area. Production (Mk-17 - 200 pieces, Mk-24 - 105 pieces) lasted from July 1954 to November 1955. Their "simplified" copies were also tested to find out whether it is possible under conditions nuclear war use lithium hydrides that have not undergone isotopic enrichment as a surrogate for thermonuclear fuel. From October 1956, the Mk-17/24 bombs began to be transferred to the reserve, they were replaced by more advanced Mk-36s.

Country: USSR
Tested: 1961
Weight: 26.5 t
Power dissipation: 58 Mt
Length: 8.0 m
Diameter: 2.1 m

After the explosion of this "" on Novaya Zemlya on October 30, 1961, the shock wave circled three times Earth, a lot of glass was broken in Norway. The bomb was not suitable for combat use and did not represent a serious scientific achievement, but probably helped the superpowers to feel the dead end of the nuclear race.

Most versatile bomb: JDAM (Joint Direct Attack Munition)

Country: USA
Start of production: 1997
Application range: 28 km
Circular error probable: 11 m
The cost of the kit: 30-70 thousand dollars

JDAM is not exactly a bomb, but a set of navigational equipment and a guided plumage, which allows you to turn almost any conventional bomb into a guided one. Such a bomb is guided by GPS signals, which makes the guidance independent of weather conditions. For the first time, JDAMs were used during the bombing of Yugoslavia. Since 1997, Boeing has produced over 2,000 JDAM kits.

The very first volume explosion bombs: BLU-72B/76B

Country: USA
Start of production: 1967
Weight: 1.18 t
Fuel mass: 0.48 t
Shock wave energy: equivalent to 9 t TNT

The first volumetric detonating bombs used in combat (in Vietnam). The fuel in BLU 72B is liquefied propane, in BLU 76B, used from high-speed carriers, it is ethylene oxide. Volumetric detonation did not provide a blasting effect, but it turned out to be effective for destroying manpower.

The most massive nuclear bomb: B-61

Country: USA
Start of production: 1962
Weight: 300-340 kg
Energy release: tactical - 0.3–170 kt; strategic - 10–340 kt
Length: 3.58 m
Diameter: 0.33 m

In 11 modifications of this most massive bomb, there are charges of switchable power: pure fission and thermonuclear. "Penetrating" products are weighted with "dump" uranium, powerful ones are equipped with parachutes and work even after hitting the corner of a building at transonic speed. Since 1962, 3155 pieces have been produced.

The most powerful serial non-nuclear bomb: GBU-43 MOAB

Country: USA
Designed: 2002
Weight: 9.5 t
Mass of explosives: 8.4 t
Length: 9.17 m
Diameter: 1.02 m

She took the crown of the “greatest bomb” from BLU-82, but, unlike the ex-queen, who was actively used in clearing landing sites until it has found application. More powerful equipment (RDX, TNT, aluminum) and a guidance system would seem to increase combat capabilities, however, finding a suitable target for a product of this value causes serious difficulties. The official name MOAB (Massive Ordnance Air Blast - heavy high-explosive bomb) is often unofficially deciphered as Mother Of All Bombs, "the mother of all bombs." The US arsenal has 15 MOAB bombs.

The very first cluster munition: SD2 Schmetterling

Country: Germany
Start of production: 1939
Weight: 2 kg
BB mass: 225 g
Dimensions: 8 x 6 x 4 cm
The radius of destruction of manpower: 25 m

Ancestors of cluster munitions, battle-tested in Europe and North Africa. The Luftwaffe used cassettes containing from 6 to 108 SD2 bombs (Sprengbombe Dickwandig 2 kg), which were equipped with fuses various types: instant and delayed action, as well as "surprises" for sappers. Due to the way the submunitions are dispersed, reminiscent of the fluttering of a butterfly, the bomb was named Schmetterling ("butterfly").

/Based on materials popmech.ru, en.wikipedia.org and topwar.ru /

Etymology of the concept

The Russian word "bomb" comes from the Greek. βόμβος (bombos), onomatopoeia, an onomatopoeic word that had in Greek approximately the same meaning as in Russian - the word "babah". In the European group of languages, the term has the same root "bomb" (German. bombe, English bomb, fr. bombe, Spanish bomba), the source of which, in turn, is lat. bombus, the Latin counterpart of the Greek onomatopoeia.

According to one hypothesis, the term was originally associated with battering rams, which first made a terrible roar, and only then caused destruction. In the future, with the improvement of warfare technologies, the logical chain war-roar-destruction became associated with other types of weapons. The term experienced a rebirth at the end of the 14th - beginning of the 15th century, when gunpowder entered the arena of war. At that time, the technical effect of its application was negligible (especially in comparison with those who had achieved perfection mechanical types throwing weapons), but the roar it produced was an extraordinary phenomenon and often had an effect on the enemy comparable to a shower of arrows.

Story

1. Artillery grenade. 2. Bomb. 3. Card grenade. XVII-XIX centuries

1. by appointment - for combat and non-combat. The latter include smoke, lighting, photo-air bombs (lighting for night photography), daylight (colored smoke) and night (colored fire), orienting-signal, orient-sea (create a colored fluorescent spot on the water and colored fire; in the West, orienting-signal and orienting-sea bombs have common name marker), propaganda (stuffed with propaganda material), practical (for training bombing - do not contain explosive or contain a very small charge; practical bombs that do not contain a charge are most often made of cement) and imitation (simulate a nuclear bomb);

1. according to the type of active material - conventional, nuclear, chemical, toxin, bacteriological (traditionally, bombs equipped with pathogenic viruses or their carriers also belong to the bacteriological category, although strictly speaking a virus is not a bacterium);
2. according to the nature of the damaging effect:
   • fragmentation ( damaging effect mostly fragments);
   • high-explosive fragmentation (fragments, high-explosive and high-explosive action; in the West, such ammunition is called general-purpose bombs);
   • high-explosive (high-explosive and blasting action);
   • penetrating high-explosive - they are high-explosive thick-walled, they are also (western designation) "seismic bombs" (by blasting action);
   • concrete-piercing (in the West, such ammunition is called semi-armor-piercing) inert (do not contain a charge explosive, hitting the target only due to kinetic energy);
   • concrete breaking explosive ( kinetic energy and blasting action);
   • armor-piercing explosive (also with kinetic energy and blasting action, but with a more durable body);
   • armor-piercing cumulative (cumulative jet);
   • armor-piercing fragmentation / cumulative fragmentation (cumulative jet and fragments);
   • armor-piercing based on the principle of "shock core";
   • incendiary (flame and temperature);
   • high-explosive incendiary (high-explosive and blasting action, flame and temperature);
   • fragmentation-high-explosive-incendiary (fragments, high-explosive and blasting action, flame and temperature);
   • incendiary-smoke (damaging effects of flame and temperature; in addition, such a bomb produces smoke in the area);
   • toxic / chemical and toxin (toxic substance / OM);
   • poisonous smoke bombs (officially these bombs were called "smoking aviation bombs poisonous smoke");
   • fragmentation-poisonous / fragmentation-chemical (fragments and OV);
   • infectious action / bacteriological (directly by pathogenic microorganisms or their carriers from among insects and small rodents);
   • Conventional nuclear (first called atomic) and thermonuclear bombs (originally called atomic hydrogen bombs in the USSR) are traditionally distinguished into a separate category not only according to the active material, but also according to damaging effect, although, strictly speaking, they should be considered high-explosive incendiary (adjusted for additional damaging factors of a nuclear explosion - radioactive radiation and radioactive fallout) of extra high power. However, there are also "nuclear bombs of enhanced radiation" - they have the main damaging factor is already radioactive radiation, specifically - the neutron flux formed during the explosion (in connection with which such nuclear bombs received the common name "neutron").
   • Also, volumetric detonating bombs (also known as volumetric explosion bombs, thermobaric, vacuum and fuel bombs) are distinguished into a separate category.
3. by the nature of the target (this classification is not always used) - for example, anti-bunker (Bunker Buster), anti-submarine, anti-tank and bridge bombs (the latter were intended for action on bridges and viaducts);
4. according to the method of delivery to the target - rocket (in this case, the bomb is used as a missile warhead), aviation, ship / boat, artillery;
5. by mass, expressed in kilograms or pounds (for non-nuclear bombs) or power, expressed in kilotons / megatons) of TNT equivalent (for nuclear bombs). It should be noted that the caliber of a non-nuclear bomb is not its actual weight, but its correspondence to the dimensions of a certain standard means defeat (which usually takes a high-explosive bomb of the same caliber). The discrepancy between caliber and weight can be very large - for example, the SAB-50-15 lighting bomb had a 50-kg caliber with a weight of only 14.4-14.8 kg (3.5 times discrepancy). On the other hand, the FAB-1500-2600TS air bomb (TS - “thick-walled”) has a caliber of 1500 kg and weighs as much as 2600 kg (a discrepancy of more than 1.7 times);
6. according to the design of the warhead - into monoblock, modular and cassette (initially, the latter were called in the USSR "rotational-dispersing aerial bombs" / RRAB).
7. in terms of controllability - into uncontrolled (free-falling, according to Western terminology - gravitational - and planning) and controlled (adjustable).

Reactive depth charges (in fact, unguided missiles with a warhead in the form of a depth bomb), which are in service with the Russian Navy and the Navy of a number of other countries, are classified by firing range (in hundreds of meters) - for example, RSL-60 (RSL - reactive depth bomb) is fired ( however, it’s more correct to say - it launches) from the RBU-6000 rocket launcher at a distance of up to 6000 m, RSL-10 from RBU-1000 - at 1000 m, etc.

Bomb consumption in major wars

Advances in bomb technology and new types of bombs

Bomb Safety

Bomb disposal

Bombs and terrorism

see also

Literature

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• History of Tunisia
• Cassock

See what "Bomb" is in other dictionaries:

bombing- bombing, and ... Russian word stress

BOMB- (French bombe, Italian and Spanish bomba, from Greek bombus dull buzzing). 1) a cast-iron ball filled with gunpowder and thrown by a mortar; it is torn either during its flight or when it falls; also explosive projectile in a metal sheath for manual ... ... Dictionary of foreign words of the Russian language