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Sent: Wednesday, January 16, 2002 10:44 AM Subject: Daisy-cutter - Why it's not nice to mess with the US. (This was circulating in USAF circles - written by a retired two star:)
“Just a little explanation of some of our capabilities: Since daisy-cutters (aka BLU-82s) are in the news these days, thought you might be interested in a little discussion of their application to terrorists. The BLU-82 'daisy-cutter' is not some esoteric form of cookie cutter. The moniker is a nickname (given by G.I.s who handle them) to hypo barometric bombs fuel-air mixture bombs. Nicknames being ephemeral, they
are often called f-a's as well, short for fuel-air. Hypo-barometric refers to the fact that these things are activated above ground surface at a given atmospheric pressure calculated to clear the surface of structures and life. Everything within a 600 yard radius, 1200 yard diameter, is incinerated; all protoplasm within a 1mile radius, 2 mile diameter, is essentially pulverized by the extreme overpressure, which requires that the bomb be dropped from a special operations C-130 Hercules from at least 6000 feet. The 'fuel-air' mixture is dispersed (by an appropriate charge detonated first) into a cloud in the atmosphere where it mixes with the surrounding air producing a chemical (vice nuclear) explosion burning all available oxygen within 600 yard radius to produce a rapid expansion of gases. The first generation of daisy cutters used gasoline, making them a HUGE Molotov cocktail. The second generation, in current use, uses aluminum powder which is highly explosive and burns extremely hot. They cover a mile wide
diameter when detonated and reach temps circa 10,000F. The blast generates
pressures sufficient to crush underground tunnels - even reinforced arches 12 feet deep are crushed. Third generation daisy cutters use uranium powder which burns even
hotter, etc. Note: this is still not a nuclear device but both 2nd and 3rd generation fa's are easily mistaken for such as they produce a similar mushroom cloud. Initially the blast uses up all nearby O2 (oxygen), vaporizing or melting everything. When the atmospheric oxygen does finally rush back in (@15 sec later) every organic compound ignites spontaneously creating another smaller explosion contained within the mushroom cloud. The ground blast pattern yielded resembles that of a daisy shaped cookie cutter.” |
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