Really big bomb

[Zkribbler]

I writing a story in which the crooks need a really big bomb. I mean, really really big. A nuke would be great, but they're kinda hard to come by. So I need something nearly as good.

I remember about 10-15 years ago, the US came up with a new bomb. IIRC, it has about 1/4 the power of a small atomic bomb. I think it might have released aerosol particles which then ignited. I can't remember if it was the army or the air force that developed it.

Does anybody know what I'm talking about?? I certainly don't.

[Eli]

http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/dumb/fae.htm

[GePap]

You probably mean the MOAB

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MOAB

Or maybe they get thyier hands on an old fashioned Tall Boy or Grand Slamm bmbs left form WW2

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Slam_bomb

[Terra Nullius]

Sounds like a daisy cutter you're after

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/1641411.stm

The bomb's warhead contains 12,600 lb (5,700 kg) of GSX, a slurry of ammonium nitrate - the basis of nitrogen fertiliser - highly flammable aluminium powder, and polystyrene-based soap as a thickener.

A Daisy Cutter is so big that it can be "launched" only by pushing it out of the open back door of a transport plane - typically the MC-130 special forces version of the Hercules is used.

The bomb descends under a stabilising parachute and is detonated just above the ground by a 38-in (97 cm) fuse, which sticks out of its nose.

edit: @ eli

edit2: Hey yeah, forgot about teh moab. That thing sounds like the perfect monument to Bush's reign.

[Gibsie]

is that the one they were gonna use in the movie, "Outbreak"?

[DRoseDARs]

What they used in that movie was a fuel-air bomb. Its purpose was to draw in and burn all available air within the blast radius; more of an implosive rather than an explosive device.

[GePap]

The daisy cutter, yeah, that was it.

The MOAB is bigger, and also HE as opposed to the mix of flammable stuff used in the other one.

Anyways, what could the bad guys in this story be doing that a nice, common 2000 lb. HE bomb is not good enough for them?

[Terra Nullius]

Damn.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0114069/plotsummary

... a new outbreak is starting in a little California town. A quarantine is set up to stop the virus from spreading, while Ford's boss, the sinister Major-Gen. McClintock, has his own agenda in mind - to harness this lethal bug for use as a bioweapon. With the President about to order a fuel-air bomb to be dropped on the little town to stop the outbreak, Daniels must find a way to unravel McClintock's sinister plan.

and now for my revenge!

Come on, come on,
Do the loco-motion with me
Yeah
Come on, come on,
Do the loco-motion with me
You gotta swing your hips now

Just try to get that crap out of your head. Muahahaha ...

[mrmitchell]

They don't exactly sell MOABs at Sears. They're probably harder to come by than a Russian nuke.*

*I am not a military explosives expert, it would be best for a more experienced poster to inform you, or to thoroughly research your topic

[Terra Nullius]

Originally posted by GePap
Anyways, what could the bad guys in this story be doing that a nice, common 2000 lb. HE bomb is not good enough for them?

Mayhaps.

But who can resist playing around with a bit of slurry?

[Zkribbler]

I think my memory was combining the MOAB and the fuel-air bomb.

Originally posted by GePap
Anyways, what could the bad guys in this story be doing that a nice, common 2000 lb. HE bomb is not good enough for them?

They're using the bomb to misdirect the search of the military, etc. They're on a ship and masquerading as al Qaeda terrorists with a nuke ( ). They apparently blow themselves to smithereens as the Navy closes in. --The Navy does not suspect that the crooks are really on a different ship, heading in a different direction with the loot.

But now, hee hee, I realize I don't need a nuke or even a MOAB. I can just load up the decoy ship with 50,000 - 100,000 tons of TNT, throw in some radiological waste as frosting, and make it go boom! That'd be a good fake nuke.

[GePap]

50 to 100 actual kilotons of TNT would probably be HARDER to get your hand on than a single large bomb with about 10 tons of HE. Heck, with that mass, you might as well try for a NUke. HELL, in fact, most cargo ships don't weight 50,000 tons, so I think you are far better of with the "large bomb" idea.

[GePap]

Oh, and a small nuke is 20 kT, so a ship laden with 50 kT would certainly more than equal a small nuke (again, if you could find a ship that could carry that much dry weight)

[Zkribbler]

Originally posted by GePap
Oh, and a small nuke is 20 kT, so a ship laden with 50 kT would certainly more than equal a small nuke ...

Why look at that! You just reduced the size of the decoy ship I need by 60%! Thanks!!

[GePap]

Originally posted by Zkribbler


Why look at that! You just reduced the size of the decoy ship I need by 60%! Thanks!!

You are still better off with the one big bomb idea.

50,000 tons of TNT is not cheap, and every government in the world would take notice of that much HE being bought, or moved. Hiding the aquisition of one large bombs would be simple.

And the kind of ships that could carry that kind of tonnage are few- you would need something like this puppy: