(((Gosh, this seems helpful. From REF/RL:)))
RUSSIA SAYS IT TESTED THE 'FATHER OF ALL BOMBS.' Colonel General Aleksandr Rukshin, the deputy chief of the Russian Armed Forces General Staff, said in Moscow on September 11 that Russia has created the world's most powerful vacuum bomb, as lethal as a nuclear weapon, Russian state-run television reported.
Rukshin said the bomb causes widespread devastation but does not contaminate the environment. He described it as "environmentally friendly, compared to a nuclear bomb." (((It's the newer, greener armageddon.))) Rukshin said the new bomb has "no match in the world" and is currently being tested at an unspecified military site by being dropped from a Tu-160 (White Swan or Blackjack) strategic bomber. He added that its introduction does not violate any international agreement to which Russia is a signatory, and that "Russia is not starting a new arms race."
The television report noted that the bomb's main destructive effects are inflicted by a second stage after the initial explosion, which ultimately results in "an ultrasonic shockwave and incredibly high temperatures. All that is alive merely evaporates."
Rukshin said that the bomb will enable Russia "to safeguard our state's security and fight international terrorism in any circumstances and in any part of the world." On September 12, RIA Novosti quoted unnamed NATO officials in Brussels as saying that the Atlantic alliance does not comment on such developments, and that new military technologies are constantly being developed around the world. An official told the news agency that NATO learned about the test from the media. The United States has used similar "thermobaric" bombs in eastern Afghanistan. In 2002-03, Washington developed its current Massive Ordinance Air Blast (MOAB), or "Mother Of All Bombs," as the successor to the BLU-82 "Daisy Cutter." PM
