Death from a thermobaric weapon is articulated by two events. The first is the release of the fuel aerosol. The second is the igniting of the aerosol.
Within the immediate vicinity of the explosion, flesh is pulverized, blown to bits or melted as the temperature reaches up to 3000°C, about half as hot as the sun. The burning fuel can be inhaled, incinerating a person from the inside out. Lungs, ears, sinuses and intestines are particularly vulnerable, collapsing as the vacuum created by the combustion sucks the oxygen from the surrounding air.
Those not incinerated in the initial kill zone will be hit by the shockwave, which moves with immense force and can cause internal injuries to the pulmonary, cardiovascular, auditory, gastrointestinal and central nervous systems. Victims may harbor fragments from the blast that are undetectable to medics using X-rays. A recent study in the International Review of the Red Cross notes that the injuries caused by the “enhanced explosions” of thermobaric explosions are “difficult to treat.”
Because thermobarics produce clouds of fuel mixed with the atmosphere that can penetrate buildings and confined spaces, they are often used against bunkers, trenches, caves and armored vehicles. In villages and cities, the weapons can obliterate civilians hiding in basements and subway systems, as the enclosure transforms into an oven for those sheltered there. This new weapons group is diverse. It includes air-dropped ordnance (known as fuel-air and vacuum bombs), shoulder-launched rockets and even hand-held grenades.
For militaries, thermobarics are efficient and useful. Few other non-nuclear technologies of mass death can compare. For human rights lawyers who specialize in war crimes, thermobarics are an object of outrage and loathing.
Hellbound and Down 