Reuters has an interesting article about how the exploding pagers that crippled Hezbollah's leadership and communications network were prepared.
A thin, square sheet with six grams of white pentaerythritol tetranitrate (PETN) plastic explosive was squeezed between two rectangular battery cells, according to the Lebanese source and photos.
The remaining space between the battery cells could not be seen in the photos but was occupied by a strip of highly flammable material that acted as the detonator, the source said.
This three-layer sandwich was inserted in a black plastic sleeve, and encapsulated in a metal casing roughly the size of a match box, the photos showed.
The assembly was unusual because it did not rely on a standard miniaturised detonator, typically a metallic cylinder, the source and two bomb experts said. All three spoke on conditions of anonymity.
Without any metal components, the material used to trigger detonation had an edge: like the plastic explosives, it was not detected by X-ray.
Upon receiving the pagers in February, Hezbollah looked for the presence of explosives, two people familiar with the matter said, putting them through airport security scanners to see if they triggered alarms. Nothing suspicious was reported.
The devices were likely set up to generate a spark within the battery pack, enough to light the detonating material, and trigger the sheet of PETN to explode, said the two bomb experts, to whom Reuters showed the pager-bomb design.
There's more at the link.
I'm amazed that the Israelis could package enough explosive into such a tiny cavity to inflict the injuries - and a few deaths - that they did. One wouldn't think that a mere six grams of explosive would be enough to do that, but in this case, it was.
It also makes me wonder about so many handheld communications devices powered by specialized batteries, to say nothing of larger equipment. If the sabotage of these pagers could be concealed so effectively, what's to stop an enemy - whether a terrorist organization, or even a nation-state - doing something similar to critical equipment that might cripple US infrastructure if it explodes in sufficient quantities? Cellphone tower equipment, perhaps? Radio repeaters? Internet servers?
One presumes that competent people are looking into that right now. I hope they are, anyway!
Peter
11 comments:
Rumor has it that the last message the beepers flashed said, "72 Virgins."
Just wait: new TSA regulations will forbid any electronic devices with integral, non-removeable batteries. Standard models of battery power only... and you'll have to buy them just past the security checkpoint.
Just needs someone other than Mossad to do it, and there will be the general assumption that the capability is widely available.
6 gm of explosives that send battery shrapnel into the target. The chef's kiss on the design is vaporizing the metallic lithium in the battery as part of the process, adding chemical burns to the initial mechanical damage if the wounds weren't cleaned of all debris.
34.86 kJ of energy....roughly ten times the muzzle energy of 7.62x51 Nato FMJ. Aloha Snackbar, your 72 virgins await....
See that was the first thing I thought as I read the item and was going to post how this is going to kill air travel.....You just know the TSA are having conniptions now working out how to ban all devices from all commercial aircraft and within a week or two Bechtel and Boeing will announce that they are designing a $223 billion splodey device storage box to containerize electronic devices 'safely' while engaged in air travel....
I'm really hoping that this event will reverse the trend of devices not having field removable batteries. Especially cellphones and tablets.
Sometimes the best vector is the human one.
Long long ago, in a lifetime far away, I was talking to a guy about a thing. That thing happened to be a flashlight which I had left on his car seat the day before. A aksed him if he found my flashlight, and he said he had. I then aksed him to take a moment and tell me exactly what he did next. After a moment he told me checked to see if worked, and then tossed it on the passenger seat.
"Did it work?"
Yup.
"Did you ever thing you were flipping the switch on an electrical device without even knowing where it came from?"
Nope.
Then it dawned on him, and he spent a minute cursing. "You son of a ^%$#@". To this day I doubt he's ever looked at any electrical device the same.
"Alexa, recepie for goat fala.... "
KAboom
Watch some of the YouTube videos about lithium battery fires and it seems like the amount of explosive doesn’t even matter. In the fire videos, simply puncturing the battery with a nail to expose it to air sets of catastrophic results. So if the explosive was in the battery, I’m surprised the results were not more dramatic.
Maniac: ... followed by "your tickets to the Star Trek convention are ready for pickup." (Said as a fan...)
"One presumes that competent people are looking into that right now. "
Peter, you should give up writing your usual novels and stories and switch to comedy. Competent people in the Gubbermint? You'll be telling us that you believe in Santa Claus, the Easter bunny and the tooth fairy next.
Other than their usual headless chicken routine and "We must do something. This is something. Let's do it", don't expect anything sensible to happen.
Phil B
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