The "Blackout" bomb- Graphite bomb

[ungern]

Hello everybody,

I' m looking for anythings about the bomb "blackout"- graphit bomb : his look, his operation, and the middles to use to repear the electrics lines

If somebody has anything it will be very kind .

Thank you .

 

[sferrin]

There was info on them shortly after the Gulf War, where TLAMs were used to take out power grids. Spools of fine carbon fiber were drapped over electrical substations shorting them out. The Iraqis would spend many man hours picking it off by hand, only to have the wind bring in a fresh load from the desert. There was another variant that used powder instead of fiber. IIRC they decided not to use it because it effectively destroyed equipment. You needed to tear everything apart to clean out the carbon dust.

https://www.hrw.org/reports/2003/usa1203/4.5.htm

http://www.afahc.ro/ro/revista/2016_1/Jeler_Roman_2016_1.pdf

 

[ungern]

Thank you very much for the answer and the links .

 

[Pioneer]

.....the BLU-114/B "Soft-Bomb" graphite bomb was used by NATO against Serbia in May 1999, disabling 70% of that country's power grid.

Isn't there some Post-WWII agreement, as a consequence of the experiences of WWII, about it being an international crime to
for a military to destroy civilian powerstations/dams and the like.....I'm guessing such weapons like these BLU-114/B negate such crime acts, on the premises that they don't actually destroy the powerstation.

Regards
Pioneer

 

[lastdingo]

I have never heard or read about any such thing, and I once read the entirety of the Geneva Conventions.

 

[phil gollin]

.

I think this comes after "proportional response".

However, the whole of the Invasion of Iraq fails under International Law.

.

 

[Pioneer]

I have never heard or read about any such thing, and I once read the entirety of the Geneva Conventions.

lastdingo, I must be honest, I can't recall the source or the treaty, but I quickly just Google it and found the following:

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC)
https://ihl-databases.icrc.org/customary-ihl/eng/docs/v2_rul_rule42

Practice Relating to Rule 42. Works and Installations Containing Dangerous Forces

I. Treaties

Additional Protocol I

Article 56 of the 1977 Additional Protocol I provides:

1. Works and installations containing dangerous forces, namely dams, dykes and nuclear electrical generating stations, shall not be made the object of attack, even where these objects are military objectives, if such attack may cause the release of dangerous forces and consequent severe losses among the civilian population. Other military objectives located at or in the vicinity of these works or installations shall not be made the object of attack if such attack may cause the release of dangerous forces from the works or installations and consequent severe losses among the civilian population.

2. The special protection against attack provided for in paragraph 1 shall cease:

(a) for a dam or a dyke only if it is used for other than its normal function and in regular, significant and direct support of military operations and if such attack is the only feasible way to terminate such support;

(b) for a nuclear electrical generating station only if it provides electric power in regular, significant and direct support of military operations and if such attack is the only feasible way to terminate such support;

(c) for other military objectives located at or in the vicinity of these works or installations only if they are used in regular, significant and direct support of military operations and if such attack is the only feasible way to terminate such support.

3. In all cases, the civilian population and individual civilians shall remain entitled to all the protection accorded them by international law, including the protection of the precautionary measures provided for in Article 57. If the protection ceases and any of the works, installations or military objectives mentioned in paragraph 1 is attacked, all practical precautions shall be taken to avoid the release of the dangerous forces.

…

4. The High Contracting Parties and the Parties to the conflict are urged to conclude further agreements among themselves to provide additional protection for objects containing dangerous forces.

Additional Protocol I

According to Article 85(3)(c) of the 1977 Additional Protocol I, “launching an attack against works or installations containing dangerous forces in the knowledge that such attack will cause excessive loss of life, injury to civilians or damage to civilian objects” is a grave breach of the Protocol.

Additional Protocol II

Article 15 of the 1977 Additional Protocol II provides:

Works or installations containing dangerous forces, namely dams, dykes and nuclear electrical generating stations, shall not be made the object of attack, even where these objects are military objectives, if such attack may cause the release of dangerous forces and consequent severe losses among the civilian population.

I don't think this was what I spacificaly read, but it does seem to substantiate the notion I was describing.


Regards
Pioneer

 

[TomS]

Yes, but notice that it's only talking about facilities whee attacking them could release some other sort of hazard -- water from a dam, radioactive material from a nuclear power plant. Just striking a conventional power plant wouldn't be covered.

 

[Rickshaw]

This raises an interesting point. Didn't the US once engage in an effort to make it rain heavily in Laos during the Vietnam War in order to overload the dykes and dams in North Vietnam? Surely that would be covered by this effort to outlaw such an eventuality?

 

[TomS]

Probably it would be. This document was agreed in 1977, so a bit too late to apply for Vietnam. Possibly it was even drafted in response to campaigns like that.