The Fuel Air Explosive is akin to a poor man's nuke. By modifying the delivery system, this could far exceed previously kill ratios.
FAE's deliver their lethality by spraying a combustable cloud over an area and then igniting the cloud via a secondary charge. The initial overpressure crushes all organs and the secondary underpressure routinely sucks a persons lungs out of their body.
Not good enough. I propose that smaller FAE's are contained on the main weapon. At the optimal height, the smaller FAE's are disgorged in a circular pattern before the main, primary charge is detonated. The smaller FAE's would detonate just before the secondary charge on the main FAE. The surrounding charges would compress the main FAE charge and, much like an automobile engine compression, would yield a much higher inital overpressure. The resulting underpressure would completely turn a human inside out.
Better killing through science.-- Klaatu, Jun 09 2008 FAE in action http://www.globalse...s/munitions/fae.htmScroll to the bottom for a short video of a smaller FAE in action. [Klaatu, Jun 09 2008] BOOM! http://www.hrw.org/...0/02/chech0215b.htm"When multiple FAE warheads are exploded, the different blast waves reinforce each other, increasing their destructive power." [Klaatu, Aug 05 2008] Killing people more efficiently? fishbone [-]-- Klaatu, Jun 09 2008 You fishboned your own idea? Is this a new trend?-- MisterQED, Jun 09 2008 //You fishboned your own idea?//
I don't like ideas that encourage the more efficient killing of human beings.
[From Arlo Guthrie's 'alice's Restaurant] And I went up there, I said, "Shrink, I want to kill. I mean, I wanna, I wanna kill. Kill. I wanna, I wanna see, I wanna see blood and gore and guts and veins in my teeth. Eat dead burnt bodies. I mean kill, Kill, KILL, KILL." And I started jumpin up and down yelling, "KILL, KILL," and he started jumpin up and down with me and we was both jumping up and down yelling, "KILL, KILL." And the sargent came over, pinned a medal on me, sent me down the hall, said, "You're our boy." [FAG'sAR]
Or, I just took too much medication today...-- Klaatu, Jun 09 2008 Or not enough ......
What you're trying to do is replicate the "squeeze" implosion of a Pu-based fission weapon, but using combustion in the gas phase. Explosive lenses are hard enough to get right even if you can produce large boules of monocrystalline HMX (Which Sandia can; bangs forehead on floor, chants we-are-not-worthy).
// would yield a much higher inital overpressure //
Yes .... but within the gas bubble. What you'd get are two radiating pressure waves, the first from the "compression" bomblets, the second from the "core" device; but it's unlikely that this "double whammy" would be more effective than a single well dispersed and stoic charge.
// The resulting underpressure would completely turn a human inside out. //
No, just cause massive tissue disruption. Turning a human being completely inside out is actually quite difficult to do.
// Better killing through science. //
[+]-- 8th of 7, Jun 09 2008 [Klaatu], yes, I too know Alice's Restaurant word for word, and even worry some times that justice is blind and it won't look at my 27 color 8x10 color glossy photos with the circles and the arrows on the back.
[8/7], do you do parties? If so does any one survive? I was going to say July 4th, but then realized Guy Faulk's day would be more likely.-- MisterQED, Jun 09 2008 Yes, not recently, yes. (It's 'Fawkes' by the way).-- 8th of 7, Jun 09 2008 I always thought that an FAE could be made more efficient by better radial dispersion. Imagine a roughly spherical dispersion cloud - That can't be particularly efficient in respects to per-square-metre of ground coverage. So. I reckon the greatest gains could be made by improving even thickness of the dispersed cloud, whether by using several dispersion units, centripetal effects, etc to spread the cloud out in a disc.
Just my $.02-- Custardguts, Jun 09 2008 Back in the 1970's I watched a video of an FAE being dropped. It was slowed by parachute and was spinning. About 400' above the ground, it released a vapour that was visible as a transparent "bell" that just reached the ground. You could see the vapours clearly. It was then detonated. Scared the shite outta me.
Coming soon to a country near you.-- Klaatu, Jun 09 2008 Been recently to a country near me-- Custardguts, Jun 10 2008 //but it's unlikely that this "double whammy" would be more effective than a single well dispersed and stoic charge.//
Seems that it is <link>-- Klaatu, Aug 05 2008 random, halfbakery