Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!wasatch!cs.utexas.edu!rutgers!att!cbnews!maniac%garnet.Berkeley.EDU@
From: maniac%garnet.Berkeley.EDU@ (George W. Herbert)
Newsgroups: sci.military
Subject: Re: Largest Bomb dropped
Summary: Some touchup..
Message-ID: <5272@cbnews.ATT.COM>
Date: 31 Mar 89 01:52:41 GMT
Sender: military@cbnews.ATT.COM
Organization: University of California, Berkeley
Lines: 38
Approved: military@att.att.com



From: maniac%garnet.Berkeley.EDU@ (George W. Herbert)

In article <5169@cbnews.ATT.COM> howard@cos.com (Howard C. Berkowitz) writes:
>    I think the bombs we are discussing are fuel-air explosives, sometimes
>    implemented as a single canister and more often as cluster munitions.
>    They use ethylene oxide, not propane; their delivery height and such
>    is relatively critical, because the gas cloud must form  and have the
>    proper fuel-air ratio before a separate igniter actuates -- these
>    do not have a single burster charge!
>
>    In _Red October_. Tom Clancy uses fuel-air explosives to get extremely
>    high explosive yield within a (no spoilers) relatively confined
>    space.  He called the weapons Pave Pat Blue, which may be correct;
>    memory does not serve.  I consider his example highly unlikely,
>    since it would be quite difficult to get the necessary air-gas ratio
>    in a constricted area with obstructions -- these bombs are meant
>    to form an airburst! 

It is 
a) possible and
b) easy
to make FAE's with built in oxygen.  The Ethelyene O2 you refer to is a sign
of such developments.  Such bombs need not get _any_ mixing w/atmos, and can
be detonated more reliably as a result.

Besides, a sub that's 32 feet in diameter and 600 feet long has (roughly) 
a half-million cubic feet of air inside (A little high, but the exact math
is not critical :) and will provide lots of oxygen if you use propane.

george william herbert
maniac@garnet.berkeley.edu

ps-this is a little off the subject, but does anyone out there have performance
info or experience with LOX-based explosives?  I have problems finding any, and
a combination of administrative paranioa and some slight regard for own health
prevents me from experimenting.