Iran does have the last laugh...
So does North Korea...
So does Russia...
Posted on 08/08/2015 5:59:34 PM PDT by bob_denard
It 's a weapon that justifies the use of the word "awesome" to describe its power. The Massive Ordnance Penetrator — or MOP — weighs in at 30,000 pounds, is almost 20 feet long and is designed to burrow through 200 feet of earth and 60 feet of concrete before detonating.
It's the king of the so-called "bunker busters" and is the largest non-nuclear weapon in the world.
Delivered by the stealthy B-2 Spirit heavy strategic bomber from as high as 20,000 feet, the MOP hits the ground at supersonic speed before slamming its way toward a hardened target through layered subterranean defenses such as native rock, reinforced concrete, and steel plates.
Once it reaches the bunker, the MOP's 5,300-pound warhead detonates, obliterating tunnels, underground chambers and … you name it.
MOP is hard to ignore. Especially for Iran, which has placed key components of its nuclear program such as centrifuges deep beneath the earth. But the MOP's delivery system could be shot out of the sky if an adversary has the right kind of air-defense missiles.
Iran wants those missiles — and Russia is willing to sell them.
(Excerpt) Read more at theweek.com ...
During the first Gulf War, they needed a penetrater for some express purpose.
The wizards at Eglin sawed off the barrel of a tank and used to make a penetrating bomb sufficient to do the job. They did so in just a few days.
The MOP is hitting the ground with at least 23 million foot pounds of force. It then survives that to penetrate through the defenses to successfully detonate.
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I would think that it would still need to detonate at a specific depth or when it hits a hollow area in order to be effective.
Delivered by the stealthy B-2 Spirit heavy strategic bomber from as high as 20,000 feet,
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That seems kind of low.
The question that comes to mind is whether they can equip this bomb with a nuke and would it still operate as designed piggy-backed to the earth-burrowing mechanism
Thanks for your post. It would be helpful to others if you would use some keywords so that others can find your article in the future when doing a search
Well duh!
Once we gave the specs on what the bomb can do, of course the only thing the enemies have to do is build deeper and better.
Which is why we had the loose lips sink ships thing going on back when we had to go about war appropriately without the media nannies.
I would think that it would still need to detonate at a specific depth or when it hits a hollow area in order to be effective.
Detonating at the desired depth and destroying the target would define success.
My point being that the bomb can survive an impact of 23 million foot pounds of energy and have its internal control circuits intact to detonate as designed is amazing.
Consider that the bomb is going to decelerate from more than 761 miles per hour to zero in less than a second. That is a lot of energy to be dissipated and survived.
Think your iPhone would still be able to play Angry Birds after that kind of shock?
It will probably come to that sooner or later.
And they’re buying with our money (technically money we borrowed to give them that we probably can’t pay back because our government is printing useless dollars and we are going to collapse from the weight of it). He started the payments in April of this year!!
Actually I believe that the money involved is Iranian US bank accounts that date from the Shah’s day that were frozen when the Iranians took the US embassy in 1979.
So the money was technically Iranian money and is not coming from the US treasury.
The MOP has been ready to use for several years.
Under stand. Airborne
MOP Rev 1, payload is pork fat.
“That is some impressive engineering. My hat is off to the designers.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barnes_Wallis
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earthquake_bomb
Does the BATFE condone the use of sawed off tank barrels?
They probably think it is too short but are afraid to try and measure it.
Thanks for the links.
During WWII, my Dad worked on a team with James Van Allen & J Allen Hyneck at Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab in Silver Spring, MD, building the Proximity Fuse.
The Proximity Fuse was a radar set that detonated an Anti-Aircraft Artillery (AAA) shell when it passed within lethal range of an aircraft.
That radar set fit in the nose of a 5" shell, IIRC, and used vacuum tubes. It withstood the 50,000g acceleration of being fired from the AAA guns.
How did I miss that?!?!
I hate that they are getting it!
lol
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