Reply #9: HMX, RDX & PETN were ripped off! [View All]

[acmejack]

194.741 tonnes of HMX, 141.233 tonnes of RDX, and 5.800 tonnes of PETN.

HMX HMX, also called octogen or cyclotetramethylene-tetranitramine, is a powerful, and relatively insensitive, nitroamine high explosive, chemically related to RDX.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMX

RDX Cyclotrimethylenetrinitramine, also known as RDX, cyclonite, hexogen, and T4, is an explosive nitroamine widely used in military and industrial applications.

In its pure, synthesized state RDX is a white, crystalline solid. As an explosive it is usually used in mixtures with other explosives and plasticizers or desensitizers. It is stable in storage and is considered the most powerful and brisant of the military high explosives.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RDX

PETN (Pentaerythritol Tetranitrate, also known as Penthrite) is one of the strongest known high explosives, with a relative effectiveness factor (R.E. factor) of 1.66. It is more sensitive to shock or friction than TNT or tetryl, and it is never used alone as a booster. It is primarily used in booster and bursting charges of small caliber ammunition, in upper charges of detonators in some land mines and shells, and as the explosive core of detonation cord.

PETN is one of the explosive ingredients used in Semtex plastic explosive. During World War II the M9A1 2.36" Rocket Launcher (Bazooka) shaped charge, with 8 oz of pentolite, could penetrate up to 5 inches of armor.

Demolition charge, M118, commonly called Flex-X or sheet explosive, consists of 4 half-pound sheets of flexible explosive packed in a plastic envelope. Each sheet is approximately 3 inches wide, 12 inches long, and ¼ inch thick. Note: The exact explosive contained in an M118 charge varies with the manufacturer. At present, some manufacturers use PETN as the basic explosive. Others use RDX. Charges manufactured in the future may include other explosives.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PETN

edit: Al Qa'qaa high explosives controversy
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(Redirected from Missing explosives in Iraq)

The Al Qa'qaa high explosives controversy concerns the removal by Baathist insurgents of about 340 tonnes of high explosives HMX and RDX after the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

The explosives, considered dangerous by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), were certified by UN weapons inspectors to be inside facilities whose doors were fastened with chains and the United Nation’s seal, at the Al Qa'qaa industrial complex in Iraq in 2003. By October 2004, the facility was empty.

In October 2004, the Iraqi interim government warned the U.S. that nearly 380 tons of conventional explosives had been removed from the Al-Qa'qaa facility. The Bush Administration was criticized for failing to guard known weapons stashes of this size after the invasion. Critics of the Bush Administration claimed that U.S. forces were to blame for the looting, which put weapons that were formerly under UN control into the hands of insurgents.

The Bush Administration position before the 2004 U.S. election was to assert that the explosives were either removed by Iraq before invaders captured the facility, or properly accounted for by US forces.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Missing_explosives_in_Iraq