EXPLOSIVES


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 MORE BANGS James Crippen recommends more training to O 50 CBNW 2013/02


nce I was asked to help out in an episode of Myth- Busters, a popular science TV show in the US. The myth had to do with the sensitivity of nitroglycerin. Because of the expense of shipping nitroglycerin from one side of the US to the other, I was asked if it


could be made on site. Rather than make it, we simply extracted it from double base smokeless powder – which itself contains a small amount of nitroglycerin. It only to about six hours to extract the amount they needed and cost less than $100 dollars. The chemicals that terrorists use in improvised manufacture


of explosives (IME) are not tracked or controlled for the most part because they are simple, ordinary chemicals which are readily available. Millions upon millions of ounces of the liquids and pounds of the solids are purchased legally, worldwide, every day. In attack aſt er attack, terrorists have turned to improvised explosive mixtures either as the main charge or as part of the


initiation system. They have done this in an attempt to become more ‘stealthy’ in their acquisition of explosive materials to carry out attacks. Many people are under a false impression that this is a new tactic employed by terrorists, but this is not the case. These types of explosives have been used by both foreign and domestic terrorists for some time against a variety of targets – ranging from individuals to aircraſt and big buildings.


IME precedent One of the most notable instances was the fi rst attack on the World Trade Center on 26 February 1993. This attack used large quantities of urea nitrate that was


Pictures courtesy of the author


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