As the situation in Ukraine drags on, worries are growing that Russia will employ – or has already used – thermobaric weapons, commonly known as vacuum bombs or fuel-air explosive bombs. According to Reuters, Ukraine’s envoy to the United States, Oksana Markarova, said that Russian soldiers used a vacuum bomb on Ukrainians on Monday night. CNN reporters also released photographs of a TOS-1 or TOS-1A Multiple Rocket Launcher near the Ukrainian border, just south of the Russian city of Belgorod, capable of firing rockets with thermobaric warheads.
WHERE DO VACUUM BOMBS COME FROM? This is why the potential use of vacuum bombs is so concerning: it produces a massive and indiscriminate explosion that can be far more lethal than conventional explosives, especially in urban environments near humans. According to the Journal of Military and Veterans’ Health, thermobaric weapons release greater heat and pressure than conventional explosives by bursting a vapor in the explosion zone. Thermobaric weapons function by distributing an aerosol cloud over a large region first. This fog moves around things and through structural fractures and cavities. A high-temperature explosion then ignites the cloud.
WHAT ARE VACUUM BOMBS AND HOW DO THEY WORK? The explosion not only produces a tremendous blast wave, but it also consumes all of the oxygen in the blast region, and the ensuing vacuum “sucks up” loose things into the void. The suction is powerful enough to easily shatter the lungs and eardrums of anyone around, according to reports. The bombs can cause a variety of possibly deadly effects to people’s respiratory, cardiovascular, auditory, gastrointestinal, and central nervous systems if they are placed near enough.
Because of its indiscriminate consequences when deployed near populations, the weapon is particularly troubling. The employment of vacuum bombs in urban environments may be extremely catastrophic, since the aerosol cloud can enter into the cracks and cavities of structures, reducing entire blocks of buildings into debris in seconds.
WHERE CAN YOU FIND THERMOBARIC WEAPONS? The weapon’s origins may be traced back to the German Army’s battles along the Eastern Front during World War II, but the technology has since been widely improved and used by military throughout the world.
The United States, for example, has confessed to employing thermobaric weapons against al-Qaeda in eastern Afghanistan’s highlands. It’s also commonly assumed that the United Kingdom, China, India, and, of course, Russia have this weapon in their arsenals. Non-governmental groups, such as Amnesty International, have denounced the use of thermobaric weapons, citing Russia’s deployment of them in the bombing of Syria. They are not, however, expressly forbidden in battle under international law.
