First use of a graphite bomb

The earliest use of a graphite bomb (G-bomb) in battle occurred in 1991 when Allied forces used it to disable 85% of Iraq's power supplies during the Gulf War. These bombs (also known as 'black out bombs') are also the first of many 'soft' bombs since they are non-lethal and seek to disadvantage the enemy by disabling power supplies. They work by exploding a cloud of thousands of ultra-fine carbon-fibre wires over electrical installations, short-circuiting the electrical systems. A later version of the G-bomb was used by NATO in May 1999 to successfully disable 70% of Serbia's power supply.