Posted on 04/15/2017 8:23:11 AM PDT by darkwing104
On April 13, 2017, the GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast Bomb known as the Mother of All Bombs or MOAB for short was used for the first time in combat. The largest non-nuclear weapon in current inventory was used against an ISIS target in a remote part of far northeast Afghanistan. The target in question was reportedly an ISIS complex of tunnels, caves and a camp where personnel were assembling.
The MOAB is a large-yield conventional (non-nuclear) precision guided bomb, developed for the United States Air Force by Albert L. Weimorts, Jr. of the Air Force Research Laboratory. At the time of development, it was touted as the most powerful non-nuclear weapon ever designed. The bomb was designed to be delivered by either the MC-130E Combat Talon I or MC-130H Combat Talon II variants.
The GBU-43/B is a 30-foot-long bomb that weighs 22,600 pounds, including 18,700 pounds of Composition H6 explosive with a blast yield of 11 tons of TNT.
Afghanistan's ambassador to the US, Hamdullah Mohib told reporters that the Bomb was used after fighting had intensified over the last week between US Special Forces and Afghan troops against ISIS. ISIS had mined the area with IEDs and the MOAB was used to clear out the mines and destroy the tunnels being used by the terrorists.
President Trump is allowing the warriors to fight the war. The President provided military commanders broader latitude to act independently on several battlefields where US forces are involved. This is a break from the previous administration which insisted on micro-management.
(Excerpt) Read more at thecoachsteam.com ...
Interesting that Space X used the same fins for its re-entry booster.
Maybe we should just put a rocket under it.
Interesting. Notice the wings?
That gives it some standoff capability. Probably several miles, at least.
That is a very nice museum and it is free.
The wings give it a 3 mile standoff range. It is meant to be deployed from high altitude.
“The weapon is intended to have a high altitude release, allowing for greater stand-off range for the delivery vehicle. Following deployment from the aircraft via drogue parachute, the MOAB weapon is guided approximately 3 nautical miles through a GPS system (with inertial gyros for pitch and roll control), JDAM actuators, and is stabilized by series of fixed wings and grid fins. The weapon, which uses the aircraft’s GPS prior to launch, takes several seconds to reconnect to the GPS signal after it has been deployed, which is normal for GPS weapons.”
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/munitions/moab.htm
Actually we upside “daisy cutter” fuses for 500’ 1000 and 750 pound GP bombs in Vietnam. Simplify a two or three foot extended fuse receptacle for standard mechanical fuses, it would arm the contact fuse above the ground for clearing mountain LZs or against soft targets like. troops in the open. We also had proximate electronic (RF) fuses, which were prone to failure and not used much as a result.
TC
Now I understand the targeting ability. They can be 3 miles off dead center and the weapon will home back in. Great. My older Garmin GPS knows my location within 3 feet. More winning.
It contained a slurried explosive that was blown out 360 degrees, then ignited for that area-effect.
Stored for a while, the slurry components settle out and harden a bit, significantly reducing its effectiveness.
Back in the 1950s I spent a 3-year tour at the Armament Laboratory, Wright Field, working on ways to insert target information into air-launched cruise missiles despite airframe bending between the navigation system in the launch aircraft and the navigation system in the missile. We never did get a good answer back then. GPS has solved a problem we couldn't quite solve back then.
Dear ISIS, All the best. With love, from “Mom””.
This MOAB bomb was estimated to carry 21,600 lbs of TNT. LINK
That is 10.53 tons of TNT. (1 ton = 2000 pounds)
Definition of a kiloton: LINK
The Hiroshima bomb was pegged at 15 thousand tons of TNT and the Nagasaki bomb was pegged at 21 thousand tons of TNT. LINK
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