...ensure security and to battle terrorism
The Russian military has successfully completed tests of the world's most powerful non-nuclear air-delivered bomb.
Channel One television said the new ordnance, nicknamed the "dad of all bombs" is four times more powerful than the U.S. "mother of all bombs."
"The tests have shown that the new air-delivered ordnance is comparable to a nuclear weapon in its efficiency and capability," Alexander Rukhsin, a deputy chief of the Russian military's General Staff, said in televised remarks.
Click here to see photos of the tests
The statement comes amid the Kremlin's efforts to restore Russia's global clout and rebuild the nation's military might.
The U.S. Massive Ordnance Air Blast, nicknamed the Mother Of All Bombs, is a large-yield satellite-guided, air delivered bomb described as the most powerful non-nuclear weapon in history, the AP reports.
"Test results of the new airborne weapon have shown that its efficiency and power is commensurate with a nuclear weapon," Alexander Rukshin, Russian deputy armed forces chief of staff, told Russia's state ORT First Channel television. The same report was later shown on the state-sponsored Vesti channel.
“You will now see it in action, the bomb which has no match in the world is being tested at a military site.”
It showed a Tupolev Tu-160 strategic bomber dropping the bomb over a testing ground. A large explosion followed, Reuters reports.
Pictures showed what looked like a flattened multi-storey block of flats surrounded by scorched soil and boulders. "The soil looks like a lunar landscape," the report said.
“The defense ministry stresses this military invention does not contradict a single international treaty. Russia is not unleashing a new arms race.”
The new bomb carries fewer explosives than the U.S. device, while the temperature at the center of its blast is twice as high and the area of damage much greater, Bloomberg reports.
“This has made it possible to reduce the accuracy requirements and made it cheaper, which is necessary in the current situation,” Yuri Balyko, head of the Defense Ministry's 30th Central Research Institute, told the channel.
The new weapon will allow Russia “to ensure the nation's security and at the same time battle international terrorism in any situation and in any region,” Rukshin said.
source: Pravda.ru.
photos:
Russia creates world's most powerful non-nuclear bomb (photo) - Pravda.Ru
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