Russia tests powerful air-delivered fuel-air bomb, dubbed ''father of all bombs''

Russia claims to have tested an air-delivered bomb four times more powerful than the American massive ordnance air blast bomb, nicknamed the ''mother of all bombs'' (MOAB).

Video footage made public by the Russians showed the bomb being dropped from a Russian Tupolev Tu-160 strategic bomber. The massive blast flattened entire apartment blocks, images of which were broadcast afterwards, as the television anchor declared that the weapon had "no equal in the world".

Russian news broadcasts claimed that an ultrasonic shockwave and the incredibly high temperature inflicted the main destruction. "All that is alive merely evaporates," the television anchor said.

In a wry aside, Russian deputy chief of staff Gen Alexander Rushkin noted that the weapon is "environmentally friendly". Americans have quickly dubbed the Russian fuel-air bomb, also called the aviation vacuum bomb, as the ''father of all bombs'' (FOAB?).

Gen Rushkin is reported to have said that the device is smaller than the US''s MOAB, but it is apparently more devastating because, owing to nanotechnology, the temperature at the epicentre of the blast is twice as high. The general claimed that the weapon produced "a blast commensurate with a nuclear weapon in its efficiency and potential".

The test comes amid concerns about deteriorating relations between Russia and the West. Russia has increased its military budget and has restarted patrol flights by strategic bombers, suspended since the collapse of the Soviet Union. On its part, the US, has failed to convince Moscow that its plans for a NATO missile shield in central Europe does not threaten Russia.