MOAB

[Suff]

So the Americans have used their most powerful non nuclear weapon against an IS splinter group in Afghanistan. Fuel Air bombs have been around for a long time but the military have been more focused on accuracy and direct targeting. Over 90% of all munitions delivered in WWII either hit nothing or were used simply to keep the heads down of people who might want to attack. As we constantly try to reduce the cost of our military, the price of wasted munitions is a real issue.

I find it saddening that it takes actual survival to make the cost of the military irrelevant. Given that it is only the power of our Military which guards us from outside oppression and domination.

An interesting point that came out over the fuel air bomb strike was that Trump did not have to sign an executive order for it's strike. As managers do, unlike politicians, he has given over the control of the military campaign to the military and is not interfering. Had there been a politician in charge he would have been less concerned with the lives of US servicemen lost than in the opinions of pacifists who don't like large weapons being used.

Also this fuel air bomb serves notice to North Korea, Syria and even Russia that the US, so far, has been expending the least of it's strength. A timely reminder to everyone that war can be a hell of a lot more lethal than Barrel Bombs without going Nuclear. Dropping a fuel air bomb of this size in a civilian situation would kill everyone within a mile's diameter. Those it did not vaporise would die of asphyxiation when the oxygen was sucked out of their local vicinity.

Perhaps someone has been reading this and realises that whilst we play our petty little games of "human rights", taxes and ever increasing "rights" for everyone else, the vandals and the barbarians are not only gathering at every border; but are at the core or all of our societies....

[AliasAggers]

I must say that the item you referred to, namely http://www.history.com/news/history-lists/8-reasons-why-rome-fell
is one of the most interesting and informative articles I have read for a long time. Many thanks.

[Workingman]

MOAB is not a thermobaric (fuel air bomb) it is just a very big (11 tonnes) bomb detonated just before it hits the ground. That gives it the classic double blast wave signature unencumbered by debris from ground zero; it is similar to a small nuclear air blast bomb though obviously not as devastating.

The blast waves radiate out at supersonic speeds creating high pressure before them and negative pressure behind - if the force does not get you the vacuum will. Apparently the MOAB shock wave has a radius of about 1.6 km.on open ground.

The interesting thing about Trump is that he kept out of the way. It has been the case for decades that US commanders do not (officially) need Presidential consent to use non-nuclear devices; though I suspect that the likes of Obama, Clinton, Carter, would have wanted a say. I am wondering if we have entered a more hawkish no-holds-barred approach from the Americans. It does not exactly fill me with glee.

[Suff]

Yes I should have checked a bit deeper on MOAB. Conventional. Catastrophic none the less and a timely reminder that ordnance has evolved in the Nuclear age.

As for the "no holds barred", in some cases it is not before time. We've been fighting with both hands tied behind our backs and one leg tied up and getting our ass kicked into the bargain. Perhaps time for a little payback.