Here's a video of a thermobaric explosion. Looks eerily similar, save for the reddish brown smoke. Though, I don't know if the similarities are due to moisture in the air, or what.
Last edited by georgeib; 08-07-20 at 11:01.
My take on the matter, and I could be wrong/incomplete on this is that based on the video that I saw, the projectile is relatively slow moving compared to actual bomb/missile strikes I've watched, which in turn totally discounts the possibility of a kinetic kill vehicle. Further, in the the still frame the projectile looks extremely long, perspectives and judging size of objects in the air is always difficult but it looks to be roughly 30 feet or longer in length, now this could be the result of the speed of the object causing it to stretch in the shot, making it look longer than it really is, however I think its far too crisp and well defined for that to be the case.
Additionally, to further discount it being a kinetic kill vehicle, most that I know of that exist or are theoretical (rods of god) are going to be travelling at supersonic or hypersonic speeds (F=ma). There is no sonic boom in any video precluding the big boom of the explosion. The speed of which this thing in the video is travelling at is so slow that it wouldn't do anything really. Maybe someday I'll try and do the calculations of the energy delivered via the "rods of god" or the one ton ballistic shaped chunk of tool steel that Kelly Johnson envisioned being released from an A-12/SR-71 at Mach 3.5 from 80k feet, not today though, got to lay some prepreg on an aircraft antenna and cure it.
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
Thank you, that's very helpful.
“You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it rests in you.” -Augustine
All mushroom clouds look similar, it's just the heated air and smoke rising. The white domes you see are condensation of moisture out of the air due to the overpressure, and are also common.
The video you linked doesn't look like a thermobaric to me, but who knows. A thermobaric is an entire cloud exploding, vs. anything else is more of a point explosion radiating outward.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XFpIiRxQgDQ
Even if there was a munitions depot there, the ammonium nitrate was a ticking time bomb anyway. It's not hard to imagine that it was detonated by accident, maybe the welding or maybe an accident starting with fireworks storage. Sure it could have been set off by intent, but on that theory it seems more likely some operative, or maybe a small drone, would drop off a timed detonator, rather than someone shooting a missile at the area.
Lebanon is in such a mess even before the big boom, I can see someone from the phalangot Christian militia from the old day or AMAL the Druze militia, thinking I will show Hezbullah I will start a fire where they have tons of military explosives stored. They did a really good job and got a big boom.
IDF Chief of Staff said the Big boom reduced the threat to Israel from Hezbullah in a huge dramatic way.
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