General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: 350 children die from malnutrition every hour. Let's bomb Syria! [View all]VanillaRhapsody
(21,115 posts)In 2002, the Navy announced that it was developing the weapon and pairing it with bombs designed to penetrate fortified buildings. The Navy described it working this way: after bursting into a storage bunker, the warhead would spray copper plates at high speeds to tear into tanks containing toxic chemicals. Material within the warhead would burn so hot it would vaporize the chemicals that escape. A byproduct that explosion would generate chlorine gas, a disinfectant.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/08/29/syria-chemical-weapons-attack/2723251/
'Intense heat'
For years the United States has been seeking to develop warheads that could be used to destroy chemical weapons stocks without the dangers described above.
So-called "Agent Defeat Weapons" are probably available to US commanders. They operate in various ways but the essential feature is intense heat - it is like a super-incendiary bomb - that destroys the chemical or biological agent in situ.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-23946071