The most powerful and terrible (after nuclear) weapon is the volumetric explosion ammunition.
BLU-82 Daisy Cutter (USA). Russian analogue - ODAB-500PM
Introduced in the 1960s, volumetric blast munitions will remain one of the most destructive conventional munitions this century. The principle is quite simple: an initiating charge undermines a container with a combustible substance, which instantly, when mixed with air, forms an aerosol cloud, detonated by a second detonating charge. Roughly the same effect is obtained with an explosion of household gas.
Modern volumetric explosion ammunition is most often a cylinder (its length is 2–3 times its diameter) filled with a combustible substance for spraying at an optimal height above the surface. The initial fuse, the mass of which is usually 1–2% of the weight of the combustible substance, is located along the axis of symmetry of the warhead. The detonation of this fuse destroys the housing and sprays a flammable substance to form an explosive air-fuel mixture. Ideally, the mixture should be detonated after reaching the cloud size for optimal combustion. The explosion itself does not occur after the primary detonator is detonated (the fuel cannot burn without an oxidizer), but after the secondary detonators are triggered, with a delay of 150 ms or more.
In addition to its powerful destructive effect, volumetric explosion ammunition has a tremendous psychological effect. For example, during Operation Desert Storm, British special forces, carrying out a mission behind Iraqi troops, accidentally witnessed the use of a volumetric bomb by the Americans. The action of the charge produced such an effect on the usually imperturbable British that they were forced to break the radio silence and broadcast information that the Allies had used nuclear weapons.
And in August 1999, during the period of Chechnya's aggression against Dagestan, a large-caliber bomb of a volumetric explosion (apparently, ODAB-500PM) was dropped on the Dagestani village of Tando, where a significant number of Chechen fighters had accumulated. The militants suffered huge losses, but the psychological effect was even stronger. In the following days, the mere appearance of a single (namely, single) SU-25 attack aircraft over the settlement forced the militants to hastily leave the village. Even the slang term "Tando effect" has appeared.
