{"id":36054,"date":"2018-07-02T16:38:06","date_gmt":"2018-07-02T16:38:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2018\/07\/02\/x-ray-bombs-when-conventional-explosives-just-wont-do\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T22:54:10","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T22:54:10","slug":"x-ray-bombs-when-conventional-explosives-just-wont-do","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/industry\/techwatch\/2018\/07\/02\/x-ray-bombs-when-conventional-explosives-just-wont-do\/","title":{"rendered":"X-ray bombs: When conventional explosives just won\u2019t do"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">WASHINGTON \u2015 We\u2019ve all been there &#8230; well, some, at least: You have a pile of chemical or biological weapons you want to destroy, but you don\u2019t want to risk spreading the toxic mess over a wide area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">What do you do?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">You could be <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/news\/your-military\/2018\/04\/14\/retaliatory-strikes-on-syria-underway\/\" title=\"\" class=\"\" style=\"\" target=\"_blank\">extremely careful<\/a>, making sure <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/pentagon\/2018\/04\/14\/us-launched-105-weapons-against-syria-with-none-intercepted-dod-says\/\" title=\"\" class=\"\" target=\"_blank\">no stray missiles<\/a> hit something other than their target. Or you could use X-rays.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The U.S. Defense Department is researching how to use an X-ray bomb to neutralize chemical and biological weapons without damaging the structures that hold the weapons, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.newscientist.com\/article\/mg23831823-200-the-us-wants-to-build-an-x-ray-bomb-to-destroy-chemical-weapons\/\" title=\"\" class=\"\" target=\"_blank\">New Scientist reports<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"3000\" height=\"1955\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/GettyImages-52037825.jpg.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-77718\" srcset=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/GettyImages-52037825.jpg.jpg 3000w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/GettyImages-52037825.jpg.jpg?resize=300,196 300w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/GettyImages-52037825.jpg.jpg?resize=768,500 768w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/GettyImages-52037825.jpg.jpg?resize=1024,667 1024w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/GettyImages-52037825.jpg.jpg?resize=1536,1001 1536w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/GettyImages-52037825.jpg.jpg?resize=2048,1335 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 3000px) 100vw, 3000px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Outside the X-ray suite at St Thomas&#8217; Hospital in London. (Peter Macdiarmid\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Although the technology behind such a bomb isn\u2019t publicly available, the article notes that researchers have looked at using conventional explosives to compress aluminum or helium to the point that the compressed material emits bursts of X-rays.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">However, to be effective in destroying either chemical or biological materials, an X-ray bomb would have to produce radiation tens of thousands of times stronger than the typical chest X-ray. This would not just destroy the weapons, but would also kill anyone unlucky enough to be standing near the X-ray burst.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>How does one destroy biological and chemical weapons without damaging the structures that contain them? Very carefully.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":77716,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":49,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[160,12,49,36,19],"tags":[],"coauthors":[895],"class_list":["post-36054","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news-roundup","category-industry","category-techwatch","category-newsletters","category-pentagon"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"M3MPTCIAV5HYFAGJ2WV63J2EAY","arc_canonical_url":"\/industry\/techwatch\/2018\/07\/02\/x-ray-bombs-when-conventional-explosives-just-wont-do\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.0 (Yoast SEO v28.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>X-ray bombs: When conventional explosives just won\u2019t do - Defense News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"How does one destroy biological and chemical weapons without damaging the structures that contain them? 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