Russia has reportedly tested the most powerful “vacuum” bomb in the world — a bomb that reportedly equals a nuclear bomb…and most assuredly will scare cats:
“Test results of the new airborne weapon have shown that its efficiency and power is commensurate with a nuclear weapon,” Alexander Rukshin, deputy head of Russia’s armed force chief of staff, told Russia’s ORT First Channel television.
“You will now see it in action, the bomb which has no match in the world is being tested at a military site,” the report said.
It showed a Tupolev Tu-160 strategic bomber dropping the bomb over a testing ground. A large explosion followed.
According to the report, the vacuum bomb is a kind of fuel-air explosive. It’s dropped or fired and the first explosive explodes open the container at X height, and then fuel is mixed with oxygen in a cloud. The second charge ignites the cloud, which essentially engulfs buildings and anything else.
And if this depresses you, the cloud DOES have a silver lining:
“At the same time, I want to stress that the action of this weapon does not contaminate the environment, in contrast to a nuclear one.”
Thank GOD that if one of these is dropped and we’re sucked into nothingness the environment will still be pure…
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.