Posted on 06/29/2015 6:05:51 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
It’s no surprise that the Iranian nuclear program talks are shaky; Guy has detailed the long, tedious, and sometime frustrating timeline of these diplomatic talks. So, given that we’re approaching the June 30th deadline–with the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei issuing demands that the U.S. could never agree to–what’s the military option, if there is one? The answer is MOP, or “Massive Ordnance Penetrator;” the largest and most powerful nonnuclear bomb we have in our arsenal (via Politico):
…at least three times in the past year, a B-2 stealth bomber has taken off from an Air Force base in Missouri and headed west to the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. For these missions, the $2 billion plane was outfitted with one of the world’s largest bombs. It is a cylinder of special high-performance steel, 20 feet long and weighing 15 tons. When dropped from an altitude likely above 20,000 feet, the bomb would have approached supersonic speed before striking a mock target in the desert, smashing through rock and burrowing deep into the ground before its 6,000 pounds of high explosives detonated with devastating force.
“It boggles the mind,” says one former Pentagon official who has watched video of the tests.
…
Iran’s facility, known as Fordow, houses 3,000 centrifuges that can enrich uranium to a purity suitable for nuclear weapons. Fordow is not Iran’s only enrichment facility, or even its largest. But it is the best protected. And it would be all Iran needs to develop a nuclear weapon.
The mock desert target was almost certainly meant to simulate Fordow.
When Obama officials say that “all options are on the table” to stop Iran from getting a nuke, they are in effect speaking in code about the MOP. The MOP is what Secretary of State John Kerry was clearly referring to when he recently told Israeli TV that the U.S. has “designed and deployed a weapon that has the ability to deal with Iran’s nuclear program.” When CNN recently put the question directly — can the MOP destroy Fordow? — to Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter, he was succinct: “Yes. That’s what it was designed to do.”
So, we have something on the military menu to deal with Iran in case things talks collapse, but will Obama actually use this option? Some think it’s probably best for his successor, preferably a Republican one. Yet, if the president–either Obama (let’s say he approves this for argument’s sake) or his successor–green lights this operation, it will take multiple runs to ensure that the centrifuges are destroyed at Fordow. Moreover, the Iranians know we have this capability, and might just build new nuclear sites deeper into the mountains. If that’s the case, then the United States will just build bigger, more effective bunker-busting bombs:
If the order came from the White House, it would most likely summon Whiteman Air Force Base to action. Crews there would load the internal weapons bays of several B-2 bombers with MOPs. The giant stealth planes would then depart for their nearly 7,000-mile flight to mountainous western Iran. By the time the planes actually took off, the mission would likely be old hat to the pilots: A massive flight simulator at Whiteman includes a full-size replica of a B-2 cockpit mounted on hydraulics to mimic flight motion. Its realistic wraparound cockpit computer screen can be preloaded with highly detailed graphics showing the topography and target areas the flight crew would see during the flight, allowing them to practice the bomb run—or even the entire flight—under different weather conditions or times of day.
Once over Fordow at an altitude of 20,000 feet or more, the bombers would release their massive payload. As the enormous bombs fell, they would accelerate to phenomenal speeds of perhaps 700 miles per hour or more. Guided by satellite positioning, flexible tailfins would steer the MOP to a very precise impact point likely identified by the UFAC. The bomb would strike the rock with the tip of its sharply pointed nose. Its supremely reinforced casing would protect the fuse and explosives inside from the initial impact. In effect, a 15-ton, 20-foot nail would pound into the earth at the speed of sound.
Violent as that impact may be, it would hardly be enough to get the job done. The goal is for the MOP to drill dozens or even hundreds of feet through rock before exploding. That is made possible by smart fuses, whose blasts are triggered not by impact but by conditions like time, depth, or the presence of a void indicating that the bomb has broken through an interior ceiling.
Fordow is buried deep enough that a single MOP probably would not penetrate to the centrifuge hall deep inside. That’s why several bombers would likely drop their ordnance in succession, gradually smashing a tunnel of devastation towards mountain’s soft interior. GPS precision would enable several MOPS to be landed on virtually the exact same spot in rapid succession: the most powerful jackhammer in history.
Politico also added that the capabilities of this weapon system have been constantly upgraded and refined in its ten-year lifespan. In 2012, the U.S. military didn’t have the ability to destroy an installation in Fordow; we’ve spent $100 million to retrofit our fleet of B-2 bombers to carry the 30,000+ bomb; new smart fuses set to trigger the explosives based on time and depth; and new GPS countermeasure to block Iranian jamming systems.
Here’s the Fox News and CNN reports on MOP from 2012.
Let’s get to it.
I have oft made a moabist proposal vis-a-vis ISIS.
Don't we also have rods orbiting the Earth? Non-explosive, penetrates solely with the energy of hitting the target at great speed.
We have the means, but not the will. We let North Korea sink ships belonging to allies we have treaties with and we send a letter. A letter. Also, attacking may spread radiation. And while you and I may view that as an unavoidable and self-caused side effect I guarantee it will be portrayed in the world’s Marxist media as worse than anything the Iranians would ever do and 40% of the world will believe that. There is no graceful exit at this point as we have allowed this to go on too long. Next we will see nuclear blackmail that will distort and damage the world worse than anything in history.
Our Nobel president has set the stage for the first nuclear war. I anticipate it will be between Saudi Arabia and Iran with a few blackmail nukes set off in the US, Britain and Germany just to warn us off.
Not when Obamas in charge. Ability but he wants them to have nukes.
He is hoping they can get off a nuke attack before he’s out of office to declare martial law.
Ability is one thing, will is another.
Won’t happen during the regime of The Won.
Yet another red line in the sand...
And which Presidential candidate is most likely to drop that bomb?
Why, The Loose Canon, of course.
“Rods from God”
could they drop two or three down the same pipe? kind of like a shaped charge.
Given that Ezekiel 38 is already prophesied to come to pass, not enough will be done, I predict, to stop Iran. Whatever it is.
OTOH, with tomorrow’s deadline (are we there yet?) - it makes me wonder when the Gog-Magog war WILL happen. I’m thinking it happens before the Tribulation.
Guess the world is gonna find out.
Sounds...uh.....rated.
The Iranians are saps if they believe anything Zero or his henchmen say. Thanks SeekAndFind.
bunker buster?
HOw about just nuking Iran?
We should have used that ten years ago, eight years ago, or the day before the terrorist took power in our White House. I see no point at all in discussing the capabilities we have to oppose Islamic terror, not with Obama in our White House.
Small self propelled tunnel machine to deliver a payload underneath a fortress?
http://www.osti.gov/scitech/biblio/5262838
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