What are thermobaric or vacuum pumps? What damage do they cause?

On Monday, February 28, Ukraine has accused Putin of using thermobaric bombsdespite being prohibited by the Geneva Convention since October 10, 1980. This restriction is due to the fact that it is considered excessively harmful or has indiscriminate effects

This type of weapon, also called air bombs, vacuum bombs and, generically, thermobaric munitions, consumes the oxygen in the place where they explode, producing serious consequences for the population.

Vacuum pumps generate a cloud of fuel that mixes with oxygen. Therefore, when detonated, the combustion consumes the oxygen, creating a high temperature explosion and causing death by suffocation.

Origin of vacuum pumps

These explosives are known as FAE or FAX for fuel air explosives, that is, explosives made up of a finely divided fuel mixed with atmospheric oxygen.

The origin of this type of weapon comes from “explosions due to leaks in gas installations, gasoline tanks, etc., which, when combined with atmospheric oxygen, give rise to explosive mixtures that any spark, due to blows, static electricity or heating by friction, they can detonate or deflagrate”, explains Alfonso Lapuente Givaja, Brigadier General of the Artillery in the article ‘Thermobaric munitions’ in the magazine ‘Spanish Army’in September 2007.

Effects of thermobaric bombs

In the same article by General Lapuente, he explains that this type of pump has three effects: mechanical, thermal and organic.

• The mechanics are the destruction of buildings, caves and unprotected vehicles, subjected to the blast wave. Penetration capacity through any opening or crack. It is said that they can detonate on one floor of a building and eliminate any living thing on another without damaging its structure.
• The thermalgenerally, result in fires.
• The organic are those that produce living beings and that General Lapuente himself calls “spooky”. ·The personnel inside the aerosol cloud will die due to temperature or overpressure. Those on its periphery will suffer suffocation, burns, broken bones, and shard wounds. In addition, overpressure can cause strokes, internal bleeding, liver and spleen rupture, lung collapse, blindness, deafness, peritonitis, etc.”

Banned but used

This type of weaponry has already been used by Russia in previous armed conflicts, and by other armies, such as the US in Afghanistan. “Thermobaric bombs designed for use in caverns dug inside the mountains. As explained by a Pentagon spokesman, this new type of laser-guided bomb contains a type of explosive that creates a high-pressure bag that expels towards the outside, the air contained in the caves kills whoever is inside by suffocation”, can be read in the article ‘Spanish Mission in Afghanistan’, March 2002 in the ‘Revista Española de Defensa’.