Thermobaric Weapon

Thermobaric Weapon

•  The Myanmar military used a thermobaric or vacuum bomb, also known as a fuel-air explosive, in an attack on a village in Sagaing last month. It killed more than 160 people, including children, according to Human Rights Watch (HRW).

 About the Bomb

• Thermobaric weapons — also known as aerosol bombs, fuel air explosives, or vacuum bombs — use oxygen from the air for a large, high-temperature blast.
• A thermobaric weapon causes significantly greater devastation than a conventional bomb of comparable size.
• The weapons, which go off in two separate stages, can be fired as rockets from tank-mounted launchers or dropped from aircraft.
• As they hit their target, a first explosion splits open the bomb’s fuel container, releasing a cloud of fuel and metal particles that spreads over a large area.
• A second explosion then occurs, igniting the aerosol cloud into a giant ball of fire and sending out intense blast waves that can destroy even reinforced buildings or equipment and vaporize human beings.
• Vacuum bombs are not prohibited by any international law or agreement. However, their use against civilian populations in built-up areas, schools or hospitals, could attract action under the Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907.
• Hague Convention is any of a series of international treaties that were issued from international conferences held at The Hague in the Netherlands in 1899 and 1907. 
• They establish the laws and customs of war in the strict sense, by defining the rules that belligerents must follow during hostilities.

Practice Questions for Prelims

Consider the following statements:
1. Thermobaric weapons or vacuum bombs do not need oxygen for blast.
2. Vacuum bombs are not prohibited by any international law or agreement, but their use against civilian populations in built-up areas, schools or hospitals, could attract action under the Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907.

Which of the above given statements is/are incorrect?
a) 1 only
b) 2 only
c) Both 1 and 2
d) Neither 1 nor 2

Ans. a)

Mains Question

What are cluster munitions and thermobaric weapons? Discuss the international initiatives taken to restrict their use.

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