I’ve heard reports here and there saying how hard it would be to get Afghan’s holed-up in mountain caves. Even if the caves are found they are obviously hard targets that even bunker-buster bombs may be unable to do much damage to (of course that depends on a lot of factors).
I’m curious if Fuel-Air Explosives (FAE) would be a good alternative weapon for these places. While the explosion may not do much physical damage I understand that these bombs have a range of side effects that might prove useful. Side effects such as enormous overpressures running through the cave system. While maybe not damaging to the cave structure it can’t be too good on the ears and a deaf enemy soldier is nearly as good as a dead one. I also understand that FAE’s tend to eat most available oxygen in the area. How long does it take for the oxygen to return? Long enough that people in the vicinity (particularly people in caves) could suffocate?
Finally, I don’t know how long a FAE takes to do its thing. That is, how long does it wait for gasses to disperse before detonating? Could FAE gas move far into the tunnels before going off or does the whole thing (dispersal and explosion) happen in a few seconds?
Whack-a-Mole, does this question have anything to do with your username?
Can’t say much for FAE but proper dispersion of the F into the A is important. In a confined space (like a cave) this wouldn’t go as well as in the atmosphere.
Starting at Guadalcanal and through the Carolines, Pelileu, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa, the Marines learned that a 55-gallon drum of high-octane aviation fuel could be breached, rolled into the entrance of a cave, and then detonated by a grenade or gunfire. The result was a primitive FAE that would kill the occupants through overpressure and suffocation:
– “Captain Harry Torgerson, USMC developed a way to blast the defenders out of their caves. The Marines had tried grenades and TNT charges, but they were thrown back before they exploded. He tied the TNT to a board and wedged the board into an opening. The Japanese could not throw it out. In an effort to improve the system which was working, he added some aviation gasoline. This “enhanced charge” not only blew the defenders out of the cave, but took his watch and pants off also.” - cite
You might also want to look into the track record of the effects of the mighty 420mm Krupp mortars used in the Great War–the “Big Berthas.” Denis Winter mentions in passing (in his book Death’s Men) that the blasts of these enormous shells often killed people above and below ground without any external physical damage. I suspect that the blast of a 420 approaches that of a FAE.
The French defenders of forts Douaumont, Thiaumont, Souville, and Vaux at Verdun were largely unaffected by the Big Berthas, except psychologically. However, an internal explosion inside Douaumont, after it was taken by the Germans, instantly killed 700 soldiers.
The trick appears to be to generate the explosion inside the defensive position.
Thanks for posting this Whack. I’d remembered we had some kind of weapon like this and appreciate everyone supplying the details. My memory was also that sometimes the change in pressure might actually invert someone’s innards, pull their lungs and associated niceties right out. Can’t think of a nicer group of guys I’d like to see this happen to.
One benefit of an FAE as opposed to a conventional weapon is that maybe there would be enough of Osama or Omar left to identify them.
This would be the tough part. The stuff that Sofa King mentioned was all performed by ground troops. Getting an explosive inside a cave is tough unless you have a guidance mechanism. Do FAEs have “smart” technology?
It seems to me that if virtually any warhead were detonated inside a cave the people unfortunate enough to be inside said cave would be very, very dead.