FAB-5000

The FAB 5000NG (ФАБ-5000НГ, where NG stands for its inventor, Nison Gelperin) was a 5,000 kilogram (11,000 lb) large air-dropped, thin cased, high explosive demolition bomb used by the Soviet Air Forces during World War II. The device was the most powerful aerial bomb in the wartime Soviet inventory (until the FAB-9000 demolition bomb was developed during the Cold War as part of the M-46 series). The bomb was designed by Soviet chemical engineer ru (1903-1989) in 1942. Gelperin projected and built bombs with tiny metal casings, in order to reduce the use of cast iron and aluminium. In Gelperin's developments, the metal casings represented only 35 percent of the bomb's weight. By 1942, the State Defense Committee of the Soviet Union perceived the need for weapons that could hit hard industrial and military facilities, marshaling yards and fortifications, without the usual scattering of medium-weight bombs. The first attempt came in the form of an explosive unmanned aircraft, a modified version of the TB-3, but the trials of this flying bomb were less than satisfactory. The Directorate of Logistics of the Air Forces eventually requested to Gelperin the development of a five-ton bomb, capable of being dropped by the Pe-8, the heaviest Soviet bomber of the time. The definitive version of the FAB-5000 was fitted with six contact lateral fuses, and the warhead was filled with 3200 kg (7055 lb) of an explosive mixture of TNT, RDX, and aluminium powder. The number of fuses ensured that the force of the blast would disperse laterally, which increases the damage in areas such as industrial compounds and military facilities. In order to load the device, the bomber's bay doors had to remain half-open. The tests, however, were successful. Two bombs were dropped, one from an altitude of 4,000 m and the other from 3,300 m. The first bomb fell in open ground, leaving a crater in diameter and in depth. Grass in a radius of 150 m was charred. The second bomb landed in the woods, and left a crater of in diameter and in depth.