Editing Thermobaric weapon (section)

====Effects====
Conventional countermeasures such as barriers (sandbags) and personnel armour are not effective against thermobaric weapons.<ref name="aewg03">{{cite journal |author=Anna E. Wildegger-Gaissmaier|title=Aspects of thermobaric weaponry |url=https://armscontrol.eu/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/thermobaric-weapons.pdf|journal=ADF Health|volume=4|date=April 2003|pages=3–6|s2cid=189802993}}</ref> A [[Human Rights Watch]] report of 1 February 2000<ref name=HRW1>{{cite web |url=https://www.hrw.org/en/reports/2000/02/01/backgrounder-russian-fuel-air-explosives-vacuum-bombs |title=Backgrounder on Russian Fuel Air Explosives ("Vacuum Bombs") &#124; Human Rights Watch |publisher=Hrw.org |date=1 February 2000 |access-date=23 April 2013 |archive-date=10 February 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130210004254/http://www.hrw.org/en/reports/2000/02/01/backgrounder-russian-fuel-air-explosives-vacuum-bombs |url-status=dead}}</ref> quotes a study made by the US [[Defense Intelligence Agency]]:

{{Blockquote|The [blast] kill mechanism against living targets is unique—and unpleasant.{{spaces}}... What kills is the [[longitudinal wave|pressure wave]], and more importantly, the subsequent [[rarefaction]] [vacuum], which [[Pneumothorax|ruptures the lungs]].{{spaces}}... If the fuel [[Deflagration|deflagrates]] but does not detonate, victims will be severely burned and will probably also inhale the burning fuel. Since the most common FAE fuels, [[ethylene oxide]] and [[propylene oxide]], are highly toxic, undetonated FAE should prove as lethal to personnel caught within the cloud as with most [[chemical agent]]s.}}

According to a US [[Central Intelligence Agency]] study,<ref name=HRW1/> 
{{blockquote|the effect of an FAE explosion within confined spaces is immense. Those near the ignition point are obliterated. Those at the fringe are likely to suffer many [[Internal injuries|internal]], invisible injuries, including [[Perforated eardrum|burst eardrums]] and crushed [[inner ear]] organs, severe [[concussions]], [[Barotrauma|ruptured lungs and internal organs]], and possibly [[blindness]].}}

Another Defense Intelligence Agency document speculates that, because the "shock and pressure waves cause minimal damage to [[brain tissue]]{{spaces}}... it is possible that victims of FAEs are not rendered unconscious by the blast, but instead suffer for several seconds or minutes while they suffocate".<ref name=HRW2>Defense Intelligence Agency, "Future Threat to the Soldier System, Volume I; Dismounted Soldier – Middle East Threat", September 1993, p. 73.</ref>