OTH LLC — Special Charges
Explosives are a tool. Like any tool, the result depends entirely on who is holding it and how much they understand about the work. Special charges are precision instruments — built to open, cut, move, disrupt, penetrate, and dispose. Less is always better. The minimum necessary to achieve the goal is the standard we hold.
The Work
Mining operations move mountains using large quantities of explosive energy to break and displace rock. EOD, breachers, and demolition professionals do the same kind of work — at a fraction of the scale, with a fraction of the material, and with far greater precision.
The goal is never the explosion. The goal is the outcome. Open a door. Cut a lock. Move a hazard. Neutralize a threat. Penetrate a barrier. The charge is simply the most efficient tool available to accomplish it.
Special charges are field-built, application-specific tools used by EOD operators, military breachers, law enforcement, and demolition professionals to solve problems that no other tool can solve as cleanly or as quickly.
The Standard
Water is one of the most effective tools in the EOD arsenal — used to penetrate, disrupt, and render safe hazards that cannot be approached directly. A precisely directed column of water, energized by a small explosive charge, can defeat a threat at standoff without initiating it.
The same principle applies across all special charge work — shape the energy, direct the force, limit the effect to exactly what is needed. No more. The Mach stem effect, blast wave propagation, and the Munroe effect are not theories. They are working physics that inform every charge we build.
OTH demonstrates the capability of the explosive tool — what it does and why it works. Techniques, tactics, and procedures are not discussed or shared here. TTPs are unit-specific, mission-specific, and tied directly to use of force doctrine and threat posture. That context belongs to the team employing the tool.
The Physics
When two blast waves intersect, they create a reinforced overpressure zone — the Mach stem. Understanding and directing this effect is central to how OTH designs charges for maximum efficiency at standoff.
The shaped charge principle. A lined cavity in an explosive focuses detonation energy into a high-velocity jet capable of penetrating hardened materials. The geometry of the liner determines the result.
How an explosive event moves through space, around structures, and into targets. Understanding propagation determines standoff, placement, and the effect on what is — and isn't — in the path.
A continuous shaped charge that cuts along a defined path. Used for breaching, door frame cutting, and precision separation of materials where a point charge won't achieve the required result.
A self-forging projectile formed by the detonation of an explosive behind a metal plate. Capable of defeating hardened targets at extended standoff distances.
Water is nearly incompressible and highly effective at transferring explosive energy directionally. Used for disruption, penetration, and render-safe operations where minimizing initiation risk is the priority.
Applications
OTH demonstrates the capability of the explosive tool — what it does and why it works. Techniques, tactics, and procedures are unit-specific, mission-specific, and tied directly to use of force doctrine and threat posture. That context belongs to the team employing the tool — not OTH.
OTH Energetics
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Some charges in this library are intended to inform professional users and demonstrate the art of the possible. Charges such as UAV integration and DIY Claymore are built and tested for educational purposes — to show how energetics physics applies in a given configuration. OTH is demonstrating capability and expanding understanding, not manufacturing deployed munitions.
The knowledge lives with us. Reach out and let's talk about your specific application.