What is the common characteristic of the chemical substances generally known as CL-20, HMX and LLM-105, which are sometimes talked about in media?
Answer & explanation
Answer: (b) These are explosives in military weapons
CL-20, HMX and LLM-105 are all high explosives, the kind packed into warheads and other military munitions. None of them is a refrigerant or a fuel; they release energy by detonating, not by burning steadily with oxygen from outside.
- ✓ (b) DRDO's High Energy Materials Research Laboratory, Pune, made CL-20 in the laboratory as a more powerful explosive than HMX, which fills most warheads. LLM-105 is also an explosive, an insensitive one whose performance lies between HMX and TATB.
- ✗ (c) Cruise missiles are propelled by ordinary fuels burnt in an engine. These three compounds sit in the warhead, not in the fuel tank.
- ✗ (a) Hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) refrigerants are gases used for cooling; these three are solid explosive compounds, so they have nothing to do with refrigeration.
- ✗ (d) Rocket propellants are designed to burn in a controlled way. These compounds are designed to detonate and are used as explosive fills.
Remember · CL-20 (most powerful of the three), HMX and LLM-105 (an insensitive explosive) are high-energy explosives for warheads, not fuels or refrigerants.
Sources
- PIB (Ministry of Defence): Pune-based DRDO lab makes most powerful conventional explosive ↗ “the warheads are mostly packed with HMX, FOX-7 or amorphous Boron. Scientists at the Pune-based High Energy Materials Research Laboratory (HEMRL) have already synthesized adequate quantity of CL-20 in the laboratory.”
- OSTI (US Department of Energy): Characterization of LLM-105 as an Insensitive High Explosive Material ↗ “is a new molecule which has performance and insensitivity between those of HMX and TATB. Its calculated energy content is about 85% that of HMX and 15% more than that of TATB.”
Question and answer: UPSC's official GS Paper I (2025, Series A) — paper ↗ · answer key ↗. Explanation: Minimalist IAS, checked 30 Sept 2026 (how we verify). ·