[1] An embedded detonator ignited the cloud as it descended to the ground to produce a massive explosion.
The high-pressure of the rapidly expanding wave front flattened all objects within close proximity of the center of the fuel cloud, as well as causing debilitating damage well beyond it.
Like other FAE using ethylene oxide, in the event of non-ignition, it functions as a chemical weapon, due to the highly toxic nature of this gas.
A second generation of FAE weapons were based on those, and were used by the United States in Iraq during Operation Desert Storm.
After Desert Storm, the United States Navy and the Marines removed their remaining FAE weapons from service, and by 1996, they had been transferred for demilitarization.