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| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| US bunker-buster bomb 'ready to go' |
| 2012-07-28 |
| The US Air Force's massive 30,000lb bunker-buster bomb critical for striking heavily fortified Iranian nuclear facilities is "ready to go". Michael Donley, the US Air Force Secretary, said that the bomb "if it need to go today", would be available. "We continue to do testing on the bomb to refine its capabilities, and that is ongoing," he said "We also have the capability to go with existing configuration today." The endorsement of the Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP) -- the world's largest conventional bomb -- comes after concerns were raised that the weapon still needed refining if was to be effective against Iran's deepest installations. Last February Congress agreed to an "urgent" Pentagon request to divert $81.6m (£52m) into improvements for the 14-ton MOP. The 20ft long, 1ft wide weapon will be delivered by the B2 stealth bomber, is the critical piece of military hardware that underwrites American assurances to Israel that it will neutralise Iran's nuclear facilities if diplomacy and sanctions fail. It also gives the B2 something to do... |
| Posted by:tipper |
| #6 The idea of a MOP is to penetrate. Not blow up on the surface like a daisy-cutter. I heard that, during Desert Storm, a number of the penetrators were made from spare barrels for 8-inch naval rifles. Heavy duty stuff, iow. So it's probable that the casing, designed to penetrate many feet of reinforced concrete, takes up the bulk of the weight and only a small--relatively speaking--volume is left for explosive. Still, 5k lbs of HE in an enclosed space will do a hell of a lot of damage, since, being so reinforced, there's no way for the blast to get out. Except an eighteen-inch hole. The effect of confining the blast is dramatic. In OCS, the demo was a couple of little firecrackers about an inch and a half long. Two boards with a firecracker on each. One had a handful of mud on top. Bang. The tamped 'cracker split the board and the untamped one scorched the board. The tamping blew all over as a cloud of damp dust. IOW, the explosion was only slightly confined and still had a hell of a different effect. Imagine a blast which, quite literally, cannot escape no matter what. And, as somebody said, the folks have to get in and out. A Hellfire a day into the elevator shaft will prevent shift change. Making an exaggerated example. |
| Posted by: Richard Aubrey 2012-07-28 13:41 |
| #5 What the hell is it made of? 20Ft by 1 ft is smaller than a tall boy (which is smaller than a Grand Slam) the Tall boy is 12,000 pounds. http://www.bismarck-class.dk/tirpitz/miscellaneous/tallboy/tallboy.html The Grand Slam bomb is 26 feet 6 inches by 3 feet, 10 inches and weighs 22,000 pounds. |
| Posted by: Bright Pebbles 2012-07-28 13:31 |
| #4 Watch the locations that now get additional 'reinforcement' activity. |
| Posted by: Mullah Richard 2012-07-28 11:26 |
| #3 Sounds like a blog post! MOP vs. Yamato. |
| Posted by: gromky 2012-07-28 10:03 |
| #2 Sink the Yamato. |
| Posted by: swksvolFF 2012-07-28 08:20 |
| #1 Yokay, but go where, as despite the rhetoric Iran isn't likely to unilaterally start anything. |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2012-07-28 01:01 |