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Mother of all bombs
Times of Oman ^
| 11 March '03
| Reuters
Posted on 03/11/2003 5:44:26 PM PST by 11th_VA
EGLIN AIR FORCE BASE (Florida) The US Air Force said it dropped a 9,450kg MOAB bomb on a range in northwest Florida yesterday in a successful first live test of a powerful new weapon nicknamed the mother of all bombs.
Defence officials suggested the test was a message to Iraq ahead of a possible war about the might of the US military.
Obviously, anything we have in the arsenal, anything thats in almost any stage of development, could be used against Iraq, said General Richard Myers, chairman of the US militarys joint chiefs of staff.
A C-131 Samaritan aircraft dropped the bomb on a test range at Eglin Air Force Base a minute or two after 2pm EST, a base spokeswoman, Senior Airman Nicholasa Brown, said.
The explosion sounded just like thunder, Brown said from an office on the east side of the 724-square-mile base, adding that We barely even heard it. The test took place on a range of the west side of the base.
The bomb packs 40 per cent more power than Americas current most powerful non-nuclear bomb, the 6,750kg Daisy Cutter, which was used to pound the caves of Tora Bora in Afghanistan in late 2001, Eglin officials said. Base officials warned residents in neighboring communities to expect a loud noise when the bomb was dropped.
Weve done some that were inert. This is the first one with munitions, Hansen said.
The MOAB is guided by global positioning satellites, an Eglin spokeswoman said. It spreads a flammable mist over the target then ignites it, producing a highly destructive blast.
The acronym stands for Massive Ordnance Air Burst but military officials have nicknamed it the Mother Of All Bombs.
TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; Front Page News; News/Current Events; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: iraq; moab
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Glad to see the Middle East is picking up this story...
1
posted on
03/11/2003 5:44:26 PM PST
by
11th_VA
To: 11th_VA
Need explosive output. 1/2 kilotons? Want to compare to small nuclear device.
To: 11th_VA
A C-131 Samaritan aircraft dropped the bomb... Ah, the press, the press!
3
posted on
03/11/2003 5:51:24 PM PST
by
Grut
To: 11th_VA
Well, they got some of it. Here's a C-131 Samaritan:
![](http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/aircraft/images/c-131-DN-SC-98-04186.jpg)
The plane that dropped the MOAB was a C-130 Hercules.
4
posted on
03/11/2003 5:52:25 PM PST
by
Tennessee_Bob
(Dieses sieht wie ein Job nach Dringlichkeitshosen aus!)
To: 11th_VA
What surprises me is that there is a barren area in the FL panhandle that would be good for this demonstration. I would think this would be done out West somewhere.
5
posted on
03/11/2003 5:54:26 PM PST
by
keithtoo
To: Tennessee_Bob
Got any cool photos of the explosion? :D
6
posted on
03/11/2003 5:54:27 PM PST
by
Kawolski
To: 11th_VA
To: Diogenesis
Why does this feel like we are saying "oooh, you guys better watch out!!"
8
posted on
03/11/2003 5:58:25 PM PST
by
calljack
To: Diogenesis; AmericanInTokyo
Freeper AmericanInTokyo has aptly called it a cauliflower cloud, rather than a mushroom cloud.
9
posted on
03/11/2003 5:59:56 PM PST
by
Semper911
(For some people, bread and circus are not enough. Hence, FreeRepublic.com)
To: calljack
Why does this feel like we are saying "oooh, you guys better watch out!!" Because we are !!!
10
posted on
03/11/2003 6:00:06 PM PST
by
11th_VA
To: 11th_VA
Remember that line in Crocodile Dundee... You call that a knife?
You call that a Knife? And Dundee pulls out his knife. THIS is a Knife!
You call that a bomb? This is a bomb! The B83 is 1.14 million times more energetic!
![](http://nuketesting.enviroweb.org/hew/Usa/Weapons/B83color1.jpg)
B83 Characteristics
Available Yields |
Low Kiloton Range/ 1200 Kilotons |
Weight |
2408 lb |
Length |
12 ft |
Body Diameter |
18 in |
Number In Service |
650 |
The B83 (Mk-83) Bomb
Take note Iraq!
To: keithtoo
The bomb was tested at Eglin AFB - about an hour east of Pensacola. Eglin is the largest USAFB in terms of land area. Eglin is consistently used as a munitions test range. Eglin and Wright Patterson AFB (Dayton, OH) are common hops for AF personnel in the Logistics Command branch of the AF.
12
posted on
03/11/2003 6:04:47 PM PST
by
Kosh5
To: 11th_VA
I knew an AF Senior Master SGT who had a video of a daisy cutter being pushed out the back of a C-130. I watched the bomb float to earth, saw the explosion, and a couple seconds later the whole plane was shaking. Very Cool.
13
posted on
03/11/2003 6:06:33 PM PST
by
Gamecock
(You take your Germany, France and , roll them all together and it wouldn't give us room to park)
To: BushCountry
Your math is off.
21,000 lbs of TNT is 10.5 tons. That's 0.015 kilotons.
14
posted on
03/11/2003 6:10:10 PM PST
by
Cyber Liberty
(© 2003, Ravin' Lunatic since 4/98)
To: Tennessee_Bob
The plane that dropped the MOAB was a C-130 Hercules.A Navy plane? Doesn't the Air Force have some of these by now?
To: Gamecock
You take your Germany, France and , roll them all together and it wouldn't give us room to park I don't know what that means, but it cracks me up.
16
posted on
03/11/2003 6:12:37 PM PST
by
Cyber Liberty
(© 2003, Ravin' Lunatic since 4/98)
To: Tennessee_Bob
Here is a C-130 Hercules in Action.
![](http://www.af.mil/photos/images/transports_c130_0002.jpg)
Just imagine something that looks like one of these hanging on to the parachute.
![](http://nuketesting.enviroweb.org/hew/Usa/Weapons/B83color1.jpg)
That will give you some idea of what's going on.
17
posted on
03/11/2003 6:25:52 PM PST
by
rundy
To: 11th_VA
I just saw a vide of this thing on the MSNBC web site. That is one big*ss bomb!!!
18
posted on
03/11/2003 6:30:46 PM PST
by
SuziQ
To: 11th_VA
![](http://images.thesun.co.uk/picture/0,,2003110964,00.jpg)
Ain't she a beaut!!
To: Cyber Liberty
Sorry, but I disagree (I pick 1/2 kiloton out of air, that is why the question mark). The bomb weighs 21,000 lbs, but doesn't use TNT to generate its explosive force. It disperses gases than ignites them. My question: Is the total explosive power greater than it's TNT weight? I would think so. But how much greater was the question.
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