DRDO lab develops world's most powerful conventional explosive CL-20

The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) is developing a powerful explosive - the CL-20 - that would help to reduce the weight and size of the warhead substantially while packing more punch.

Scientists at the Pune-based High Energy Materials Research Laboratory (HEMRL) have already synthesised adequate quantity of CL-20 in the laboratory. "It is the most powerful non-nuclear explosive yet known to man," says AK Sikder, joint director of HEMRL, who heads the high-energy materials division.

CL-20, or `octa-nitro-cubane', is a nitramine class of explosive t6hat is 15 times as powerful as HMX (His/Her Majesty Explosive) or High Melting Explosive (HME) or Octogen. The HMX itself is more than four times as potent as the Research Developed Explosive or Royal Demolition Explosive or Cyclonite or Hexogen, more commonly known as RDX.

The compound, 'Indian CL-20' or ICL-20, was indigenously synthesised in the HEMRL laboratory using inverse technology, he added. "The HEMRL has taken India to an elite club of countries with advanced capabilities in the field of energetic materials," said Manish Bhardwaj, a senior scientist with the HEMRL.

The compound CL-20, which looks like limestone or grainy talcum powder, is named after the China Lake facility of the Naval Air Weapons Station in California, US. It was first synthesised by Arnold Nielson in 1987.

"CL-20 offers the only option within the next 10-15 years to meet the requirements of the Indian armed forces for futuristic weapons," said Sikder. "CL-20-based shaped charges significantly improve the penetration over armours," he said, adding that it could be used in the bomb for the 120-mm main gun mounted on the MBT-Arjun. "But the costs of mass production of ICL-20 are still prohibitive," said Sikder.