# Sonic Boom as a Weapon **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 27, 2006, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sonic-boom-as-a-weapon/354519 "2006-04-27T21:45:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2006, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sonic-boom-as-a-weapon/354519/1 "2006-04-27T21:45:11Z")
Is the power of the sonic boom phenomenon considered a weapon of any kind? I can see how it could be pretty demoralizing to have a formation fly over at 800 MPH at 50 feet without dropping so much as a squib. But given the ability of the boom to break glass, has this shock wave ever been put to military use? Could it say, detonate a buried antipersonnel mine? Or any other impact-triggered device? ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2006, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sonic-boom-as-a-weapon/354519/2 "2006-04-27T21:49:06Z")
Not a sonic boom from an aircraft but same idea: [http://www.atcsd.com/lrad.html](http://www.atcsd.com/lrad.html) Also flying at supersonic speeds 50 ft about the ground is a good way to smash into it. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2006, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sonic-boom-as-a-weapon/354519/3 "2006-04-27T22:18:17Z")
[Special forces of the Netherlands](http://www.martinfrost.ws/htmlfiles/dutch_specforces.html) > [@](#): > > Their most famous exploit was the June 11, 1977 simultaneous assault of a school-house and train seized by South Moluccan terrorists. During the short battle for the train, six terrorists were killed: unfortunately, two hostages were as well. However, in their action over 200 people had been freed (105 children and 98 adults had been captured between the two locations). One of the unique aspects of their assault was the use of air force F-104 Starfighters for a diversion. At midnight, **right before the assault, two F-104’s flew over the train at supersonic speed, the resulting sonic boom disoriented the terrorists, making their efforts to fight back less effective.** ---
**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2006, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sonic-boom-as-a-weapon/354519/4 "2006-04-27T22:36:05Z")
Let’s not overlook the [obvious](http://www.street.fighter.free.fr/techniques/timing_a.jpg). ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2006, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sonic-boom-as-a-weapon/354519/5 "2006-04-28T01:09:36Z")
I’m unaware of sonic booms being used as mine-clearing devices, and perhaps the OP knew about this already, but as recently as late last year, it was widely reported that [Israel was using the sonic booms of low-flying fighters](http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/story?id=1453692&WNT=true) as a harassment device to disrupt attempts to fire rockets into its territory from Gaza. OK, more in the nature of Psyops than combat, but still a military application. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2006, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sonic-boom-as-a-weapon/354519/6 "2006-04-28T01:19:47Z")
It’s said that [“The Flying Crowbar”](http://www.merkle.com/pluto/pluto.html), which would have flown at treetop level at Mach **3** , could have killed people just by flying overhead ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2006, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sonic-boom-as-a-weapon/354519/7 "2006-04-28T02:47:06Z")
Clearly, you’ve never met my friend [Guile.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guile_%28Street_Fighter%29) ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2006, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sonic-boom-as-a-weapon/354519/8 "2006-04-28T02:52:08Z")
> [@bouv](#): > > Clearly, you’ve never met my friend [Guile.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guile_%28Street_Fighter%29) :smack: [Try that again.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guile_%28Street_Fighter%29) ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2006, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sonic-boom-as-a-weapon/354519/9 "2006-04-28T04:13:29Z")
Wow, for a minute there I thought I’d gone through some sort of transdimensional warp or something. ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2006, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sonic-boom-as-a-weapon/354519/10 "2006-04-28T04:22:13Z")
> [@ultrafilter](#): > > Let’s not overlook the [obvious](http://www.street.fighter.free.fr/techniques/timing_a.jpg). Huh…it’s amazing what you find out when you read a thread _before_ posting.