THE Russian military has a secret bomb that is four times more powerful than the mega-weapon Donald Trump’s military used to blast ISIS in their mountain hideaway.

The US bomb GBU-43B is the biggest non-nuclear bomb ever to be used in combat and proudly brags the tag The Mother Of All Bombs.

Now it has been revealed Vladimir Putin has even bigger bomb in his mighty arsenal and it really is ‘the daddy’, according to The Sun.

Officially known as the Aviation Thermobaric Bomb of Increased Power, it is already being dubbed the “Father Of All Bombs”.

It is reportedly four times bigger than the MOAB, carrying 44 tonnes of TNT and explodes in the same way as the US bomb.

Yet due to the sheer number of explosives crammed inside it causes similar blast damage to that of a nuclear weapon.

The bomb was test-fired by the Russians in 2007 where the temperature produced by the blast was also twice as high than that produced by the MOAB.

The bomber-dropped bomb is designed to explode midair by ignition of a fuel-air mixture that produces massive blast effects comparable to smaller tactical nuclear weapons.

“All that is alive merely evaporates,” General Alexander Rukshin, deputy chief of the Russian staff, was quoted as saying at the time.

Thermobaric devices detonate in two stages, with an initial blast dispersing explosive materials in a cloud that is then ignited by a secondary blast.

The explosion generates a much bigger pressure wave than conventional explosives, followed by a vacuum effect that compounds damage and injuries caused by the blast.

Russian sources have claimed their weapon has a power equivalent to 44 tons of TNT – or four times that of the MOAB – despite being lighter than its 21,000lb US counterpart at 16,650lb.

Because of its yield and the extremely high temperatures it generates, it is slated to replace smaller battlefield nukes currently in the Russian arsenal.

When the Russian air force began bombing rebel positions in Syria in September 2015, smaller thermobaric bombs were used against ISIS positions, but the FOAB has yet to be deployed.

MOAB WAS PURELY ‘TACTICAL’

The US’ top military commander said the decision to deploy the “Mother of All Bombs” was “tactical”.

NATO commander in Afghanistan US General John W Nicholson said the decision to drop the megabomb was based on his assessment of military needs and not broader political considerations.

“This was the first time that we encountered an extensive obstacle to our progress,” he said of a joint Afghan-US operation that has been targeting the Islamic State since March. “It was the right time to use it tactically against the right target on the battlefield.”

Afghan and US forces were at the scene of the strike and reported that the “weapon achieved its intended purpose,”, Gen Nicholson said.

Afghan Defence Ministry spokesman Dawlat Waziri said no civilians were harmed in the massive blast that targeted a network of caves and tunnels that had been heavily mined.

“No civilian has been hurt and only the base, which Daesh used to launch attacks in other parts of the province, was destroyed,” Mr Waziri said in a statement.

THE MOMENT THE MEGA BOMB HIT

Video has been released showing the moment America’s 9500-kilogram ‘mother of all bombs’ was dropped on an Islamic State tunnel network in Afghanistan early Thursday.

The largest non-nuclear bomb ever deployed killed 36 militants, the Afghan Ministry of Defence said, taking out a key underground complex in the Achin district in Nangarhar province, near the Pakistan border.

However IS denied it had suffered any casualties.

“Security source to Amaq agency denies any dead or wounded from yesterday’s American strike in Nangarhar using a GBU-43/B,” the group’s self-styled news agency, Amaq, said on social media accounts.

The statements could not be independently verified, and on Friday Afghan and foreign troops in the vicinity were not allowing reporters or locals to approach the scene of the blast.

US Forces Afghanistan said the bomb was dropped at 7.32pm Thursday (1.02am Friday AEST).

JUST IN: New video shows massive, 21,000-pound bomb hitting ISIS in Afghanistan https://t.co/FHXxuPb0Xq https://t.co/8A69FEO26y — CNN (@CNN) 14 April 2017

“As a result of the bombing, key Daesh (IS) hideouts and a deep tunnel complex were destroyed and 36 IS fighters were killed,” the Afghan defence ministry said in a statement.

The US commander in Afghanistan who ordered the use of the bomb on the IS stronghold didn’t need President Donald Trump’s approval, Pentagon officials said on Friday. The officials said Gen. John Nicholson has standing authority to use the bomb, which is officially called the Massive Ordnance Air Burst bomb, or MOAB, the largest non-nuclear bomb ever dropped in combat. The bomb had been in Afghanistan since January.

The officials weren’t authorised to speak publicly on the matter and requested anonymity.

The air force calls the GBU-43, which contains 11 tonnes of explosives, the Massive Ordnance Air Blast bomb. Based on the acronym, it has been nicknamed the “Mother Of All Bombs.”

Each MOAB costs about $US16 million ($21 million).

“As (ISIS-Khorasan’s) losses have mounted, they are using IEDs, bunkers and tunnels to thicken their defence,” said General John Nicholson, who heads US Forces Afghanistan.

“This is the right munition to reduce these obstacles and maintain the momentum of our offensive against ISIS-K.”

The bomb was delivered via an MC-130 transport plane, according to the Pentagon.

“The GBU-43/B is the largest non-nuclear bomb ever deployed in combat,” air force spokesman Colonel Pat Ryder said.

‘MESSAGE FOR NORTH KOREA’

A FORMER US intelligence officer says the “mother of all bombs” fired on Islamic State forces in Afghanistan carried a chilling message for North Korea.

According to The Daily Star, former US officer James Peek said he believed the launch of the mega bomb was meant to frighten North Korea.

“We are entering what perhaps might come close to a showdown between the US and the north,” he told the Daily Star.

He told the news agency that the bomb would have been fired at strongholds in Syria or Iraq if it were meant to destroy Islamic State.

“Instead, this bomb was meant for North Korea. It was designed during the Iraq War as a means to penetrate destroy underground nuclear facilities,” he told the Daily Star.

However the Afghan Ministry of Defence reported 36 ISIS militants were killed in the US attack.

US President Donald Trump boasted about the bombing during a press conference in Atlanta on Thursday.

“Everybody knows exactly what happened. What I do is I authorise my military. We have the greatest military in the world and they’ve done a job as usual,” he said.

“We have given them total authorisation and that’s what they’re doing and frankly that’s why they’ve been so successful lately.

“If you look at what’s happened over the last eight weeks and compare that really to what’s happened over the past eight years, you’ll see there’s a tremendous difference, tremendous difference.

“So we have incredible leaders in the military, and we have incredible military. We are very proud of them. This was another very, very successful mission.”

White House press secretary Sean Spicer said all appropriate measures were taken to avoid civilian casualties. The military is doing a damage assessment, so casualty figures were not immediately clear.

“We must deny them operational space, which we did,” Mr Spicer said.

Trump Responds to Questions About MOAB Trump Responds to Questions About MOAB

General John Nicholson, commander of US forces in Afghanistan, signed off on the use of the bomb, according to sources.

The bomb was rapidly developed in 2002-2003 around the time of the US-led invasion of Iraq.

According to the air force, the last time the MOAB was tested in 2003, a huge mushroom cloud could be seen from 32 kilometres away.

President Trump during the campaign promised to “bomb the s**t” out of IS, and this escalation could be the first sign of that policy in action.