China tests 'mother of all bombs,' strength only second to a nuclear weapon

After the United States dropped its most powerful weapon in 2017 to destroy an ISIS tunnel in Afghanistan, China has begun the year by testing its most powerful non-nuclear weapon, which is being called the country's version of the "mother of all bombs."

State arms manufacturer Norinco posted a video of the test on its website and said that it had the capacity for massive destruction and could wipeout swathes of land. The strength of the bomb is reportedly only second to that of a nuclear weapon.

While the video said that the bomb was dropped by a H-6 bomber, details on the date and location of the test or its range hasn't been revealed. The footage shows the bomb being dropped on an area causing a huge explosion. After this, a huge cloud of black smoke is seen billowing into the air.

Little information is available on the bomb, but Wei Dongxu, a Beijing-based military analyst, told the Global Times, that the H-6 bomber could only carry one bomb at a time, which meant that the weapon could be about five to six meters long.

"The massive blast can easily and completely wipe out fortified ground targets such as reinforced buildings, bastions and defense shelters," Wei said, adding that it could even be used to clear a landing area for troops in case of obstructions.

Before China, US was known to be the first nation to possess such an ammunition, when it dropped the Massive Ordnance Air Blast (MOAB) in Afghanistan. The bomb was at the time called the "mother of all bombs" due to the power it had and the acronym.

Trump at the time had congratulated the troops for successfully dropping the bomb and had said that he was proud of the forces.

Comparing China and US' weapon, Wei explained to the Global Times that the one China possessed was smaller and lighter compared to the American bomb. He added that US' MOAB was so big that it had to be carried by a larger aircraft, whereas the Chinese bomb could fit in the bomb bay of the H-6 bomber.

To counter the US' bomb, Russia is known to have developed a bomb that was dubbed as the "father of all bombs." It was said to be larger and uses gas for the explosion, reported Wired.