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| Science & Technology |
| StrategyPage: Must Have More Big Bombs, NOW! |
| 2009-09-16 |
| Earlier this year, the U.S. Air Force asked Congress for money to buy four 15 ton Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP) bombs. Now it wants ten, and preferably twelve. The likely targets are North Korea or Iran, and apparently the air force has developed some new information on targets that would require more MOPs, and as soon as possible. The U.S. Air Force is also modifying some B-2 bombers so that they can carry two MOP bombs. These 21 foot long bombs have began development in 2004, with the first test models showing up in 2005. Operational characteristics (how deep the bomb can go in different types of material) have only mentioned the ability to penetrate 200 feet underground. The MOP is mostly metal, with about 18 percent of its weight devoted to explosives. It uses GPS, and inertial guidance, to find its target. The MOP is the latest of a long line of American "super bombs." B-2s are supposed to be ready to use MOP next year. Previously, the heaviest U.S. "penetrator" bombs were the 2.1 ton BLU-28 and one ton BLU-109. |
| Posted by:3dc |
| #9 "Sure, we had some Massive Ordnance Penetrator's stored over here...hey! Were'd they go?" |
| Posted by: Frank G 2009-09-16 19:01 |
| #8 Maybe we are selling them to someone else....? |
| Posted by: NoMoreBS 2009-09-16 17:26 |
| #7 Why? Did the expiration date pass on the ones we still have but never used? |
| Posted by: gorb 2009-09-16 12:33 |
| #6 I still want my Rods from God, dammit. |
| Posted by: Anon4021 2009-09-16 11:51 |
| #5 What they haven't mentioned is the "deep digger" munition that used cannon to bore its way through a lot of reinforced concrete. After one hugely successful test, it vanished, so has probably been reclassified. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2009-09-16 09:43 |
| #4 Whahahahha |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2009-09-16 08:47 |
| #3 BLU-28?! More like BLU-82 -or- GBU28 (more likely). Don't these guys watch "Mail Call"?! |
| Posted by: Uncle Phester 2009-09-16 08:41 |
| #2 Yep, they made a Tall-Boy/Grand-Slam duplicate in more time than it took to fight WW2. Some-one is skimming. |
| Posted by: Bright Pebbles 2009-09-16 08:32 |
| #1 The original bunker buster took the US just a few weeks to go from an idea to reality. Looks like someone just made themselves a ton of money. |
| Posted by: gorb 2009-09-16 02:43 |