Fears have risen over Russia’s use of thermobaric weapons after Ukraine’s ambassador to the United States said a vacuum bomb – another term for the weapon – was used during the invasion. “They used the thermobaric bomb today (yesterday Monday), which is banned under the Geneva Convention,” said Oksana Markarova, who briefed members of the US Congress.
The use of such weapons, which absorb oxygen from the ambient air to create a high-temperature explosion, has not yet been confirmed, although footage from Ukraine shows thermobaric rocket launchers on Russian TOS-1 vehicles.
Dr Marcus Helier, a senior analyst at the Australian Institute for Strategic Policy, told the Guardian that while it was unclear whether they had yet been developed by Russia in Ukraine, it was only a matter of time.
How do they work;
The thermobaric weapon, also known as the aerosol bomb or fuel air explosive, is a two-stage ammunition.
The first stage charge dispenses an aerosol made of a very fine material – from carbon-based fuel to tiny metal particles. A second charge ignites this cloud, creating a fireball, a huge shock wave and a vacuum as it absorbs all the oxygen around the environment.
The blast wave can last much longer than a conventional explosive and is capable of evaporating human bodies.
Such weapons are used for various purposes and are available in different sizes. Helier says what we can see in Ukraine is Russia using them as a “destroyer” to destroy defense positions. Extremely large airborne versions are designed to destroy cave shelters and tunnel complexes.
Where have they been used?
The bombs have been used by Russian and Western forces since the 1960s. The United States has relied on them to try to eliminate al Qaeda in the mountains in Afghanistan. Heiler said Russia had a longer history with them than the West. “Russia has systems in the whole range, from very small tactical weapons to huge, bombs.
“The separatists that Russia has been supporting in the Donbas region have been using them for many years,” he said.
In 2000, Human Rights Watch condemned the alleged use of weapons by Russia a year earlier in Chechnya as “a dangerous escalation” with “significant humanitarian consequences”.
How dangerous is it?
Helier said the thermobaric weapons were effective in their “specific purpose” of “destroying primarily defensive positions”. Although they will not be used to infiltrate a chariot, they could be a “very destructive weapon” against an apartment complex or other building.
“It is not illegal, although their effects can be quite horrible, because of this phenomenon of creating a vacuum and the absorption of air by the lungs of the defenders,” he said.
As their use is “quite typical” of Russian tactics, Hailer said he expected to see more thermobaric war in Ukraine.
“One of the things we know about Russian tactics is that they are willing to destroy everything.
“It is clear that the Ukrainians are fighting in some of the cities; as this continues, the Russians will increasingly resort to the use of whatever weapons they have, including thermobaric weapons in residential urban areas,” he said.
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