Feedman
06-01-2009, 10:46 AM
http://cache.gawker.com/assets/images/jalopnik/2009/05/Buratino_1.jpgWhen the Italians name something after a bee, it's a cute little trucklet (http://jalopnik.com/5265913/the-piaggio-ape-buzzing-about-in-europes-cutest-truck). But when the Russians do the same, it's the building block of the scariest rocket launcher in Eurasia.
http://cache.gawker.com/assets/images/jalopnik/2009/05/j9xCgNdZPKk.jpg
Thermobaric weapons (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermobaric_weapon) excite me. Some of it is the name—also written as fuel-air bomb or vacuum bomb—but mostly it’s the sheer elegance of operation. They work by dispersing their fuel in a cloud of fine particulate, then lighting the cloud on fire. The resulting explosion creates a particularly devastating shockwave while sucking up all the oxygen in the area.
Among the many vacuum bombs in use by various armies is the Russian RPO-A Shmel (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RPO-A_Shmel_(Bumblebee)), where shmel means bumblebee. It is a single-shot bazooka which fires a 4.6-pound thermobaric warhead. You can see it in action here (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TgRJRpGJfbg).
Scary, yes. But what if you took the same principle and upped it a bit? By, say, using 220 mm fuel-air rockets and mounting 30 of them on a T-72 tank (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T-72) chassis? You would end up with the TOS-1 Buratino (http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/russia/tos-1.htm).
http://cache.gawker.com/assets/images/jalopnik/2009/05/Buratino_2_01.jpg
http://cache.gawker.com/assets/images/jalopnik/2009/05/6ane4jB35Hs.jpg
Buratino (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buratino) is a Russian derivative of Pinocchio and you can certainly see why it’s a very appropriate nickname for the TOS-1, which has somehow escaped our list of the ten fiercest Russian military vehicles of all time (http://jalopnik.com/400207/the-ten-fiercest-russian-military-vehicles-of-all-time). It is capable of firing its entire load of 30 warheads over 15 seconds, levelling 40 unfortunate acres in the process. The TOS-1 was put to crushing use against the Chechen capital of Grozny during its siege in December 1999 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Grozny_(1999%C3%A2%C2%80%C2%932000)). This is what remained of the city:
http://cache.gawker.com/assets/images/jalopnik/2009/05/Grozny.jpg
Which, come to think of it, is what my home (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Budapest) would look like if the people of Hungary had delayed their 1956 revolution (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hungarian_Revolution_of_1956) by a few decades, until the Buratino was developed in the late 80’s.
Photo Credit: Militaryimages.net (http://www.militaryimages.net/photopost/showphoto.php/photo/27482), Vyacheslav Fedorov (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Tos_6.jpg), Freechechnya.org (http://www.freechechnya.org/)
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More... (http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/jalopnik/full/~3/_bxm7jTqQmI/the-tos+1-buratino-a-terrifying-russian-thermobaric-menace)
http://cache.gawker.com/assets/images/jalopnik/2009/05/j9xCgNdZPKk.jpg
Thermobaric weapons (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermobaric_weapon) excite me. Some of it is the name—also written as fuel-air bomb or vacuum bomb—but mostly it’s the sheer elegance of operation. They work by dispersing their fuel in a cloud of fine particulate, then lighting the cloud on fire. The resulting explosion creates a particularly devastating shockwave while sucking up all the oxygen in the area.
Among the many vacuum bombs in use by various armies is the Russian RPO-A Shmel (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RPO-A_Shmel_(Bumblebee)), where shmel means bumblebee. It is a single-shot bazooka which fires a 4.6-pound thermobaric warhead. You can see it in action here (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TgRJRpGJfbg).
Scary, yes. But what if you took the same principle and upped it a bit? By, say, using 220 mm fuel-air rockets and mounting 30 of them on a T-72 tank (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T-72) chassis? You would end up with the TOS-1 Buratino (http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/russia/tos-1.htm).
http://cache.gawker.com/assets/images/jalopnik/2009/05/Buratino_2_01.jpg
http://cache.gawker.com/assets/images/jalopnik/2009/05/6ane4jB35Hs.jpg
Buratino (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buratino) is a Russian derivative of Pinocchio and you can certainly see why it’s a very appropriate nickname for the TOS-1, which has somehow escaped our list of the ten fiercest Russian military vehicles of all time (http://jalopnik.com/400207/the-ten-fiercest-russian-military-vehicles-of-all-time). It is capable of firing its entire load of 30 warheads over 15 seconds, levelling 40 unfortunate acres in the process. The TOS-1 was put to crushing use against the Chechen capital of Grozny during its siege in December 1999 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Grozny_(1999%C3%A2%C2%80%C2%932000)). This is what remained of the city:
http://cache.gawker.com/assets/images/jalopnik/2009/05/Grozny.jpg
Which, come to think of it, is what my home (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Budapest) would look like if the people of Hungary had delayed their 1956 revolution (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hungarian_Revolution_of_1956) by a few decades, until the Buratino was developed in the late 80’s.
Photo Credit: Militaryimages.net (http://www.militaryimages.net/photopost/showphoto.php/photo/27482), Vyacheslav Fedorov (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Tos_6.jpg), Freechechnya.org (http://www.freechechnya.org/)
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More... (http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/jalopnik/full/~3/_bxm7jTqQmI/the-tos+1-buratino-a-terrifying-russian-thermobaric-menace)