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A chemical H2–F2 laser (oscillator and amplifier) initiated by means of IR radiative excitation of vibrational levels of HF molecules is studied under the conditions of development of a thermal-branched chain reaction caused by thermal dissociation of gaseous additions to the laser mixture. It is shown that, using F2SO3 addition at a partial pressure of 40 Torr, an H2–F2 laser with a mixture pressure of 1~bar initiated by a pulsed hydrogen fluorine laser can provide an output exceeding 120–200 J/liter in 20–50 ns laser pulses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]