Posted on 11/09/2007 12:23:18 PM PST by Wuli
Longer than a Humvee and weighing more than two elephants, the latest and largest bunker-busting bomb is an attention-getter.
The $88 million request last month to speed up the operational ability of the MOP, or Massive Ordnance Penetrator, was noticed by some in Congress who saw a signal that Washington was on track for a war with Iran.
Presumably, its listing as an “urgent operational need from theater commanders” was noticed, as well, by Iran’s leadership.
The 15-ton weapon would be most tailored to blast away at deeply buried nuclear facilities. Defense analysts have predicted any attack on Iran would involve the B-2 stealth bomber using its radar-dodging ways to slip past Tehran’s air defenses and drop bunker busters on places like Natanz, where nuclear facilities hum away 100 feet below the surface.
The jets could be MOP capable by late 2008, said a spokesman at Whiteman Air Force Base, near Knob Noster, home of the B-2 bomber.
In its October emergency appropriations request for $196 million more for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the White House essentially sped up funding for the new bomb. Previously, only about $30 million had been allocated to develop it.
The administration listed the request under “technologies to improve the survivability of U.S. personnel and equipment.”
While American forces at times needed to blast through sturdy defenses during the very earliest stages of the invasions that ousted Saddam Hussein and put down the Taliban, those conflicts now are guerilla and counterinsurgency fights that demand a much lighter touch than a 15-ton bomb.
A high-ranking Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee called the funding request “a clear red flag.” Rep. Jim McDermott, a Washington state Democrat.....
(Excerpt) Read more at kansascity.com ...
Relations WTF, bend over anal type.
“Now that is one hilarious headline.”
I thought so too. Felt like it should have had a subtitle, like: No kidding Sherlock!!!
The problem is that the Dims are holding up the funding, as if to assure the Iranians the Dims will keep their nuclear weapons development bunkers safe from mean ole Bush - so, go ahead and complete your work before they lose Congress again.
15 tons? Someone is exaggerating.
Oops, That would be under-exaggerating.
Keeping all of this in mind......why would anyone vote for a Democrat? They will still be trying to talk the killers out of killing them and us while the enemies bombs begin to fall........could affect U.S.-Iran relations? I sure as heck hope so!
I don’t think any information of this sort is reliable, especially as to times and capabilities. It is not like these items are a blue-light special at K-Mart.
Like another woman would affect my relationship with my husband.
Ya think that might cause an earthquake?
What other operations is Iran involved in? Are they involved in the Pakistan upheaval? Are they working with Kurdish terrorist to instigate Turkish action in Iraq? Is Iran a proxy of China?
Can never forget the Lebanon Marine barracks bombing.
Talk, talk, talk. Just bomb the f**king facilities already!
If we decide to take out Iran, they will have no defense.
There is nothing that they have that we do not have detailed plans. We can take it all out in 30 minutes.
Tell Allah(who has lost every war against the West he has ever been in) to put that in his pipe and smoke it.
I was laughing so hard when I read that headline, I had to go outside for a breather before I could come back to read the article.
Yep, that’s the way I read it too.
“What other operations is Iran involved in? Are they involved in the Pakistan upheaval? Are they working with Kurdish terrorist to instigate Turkish action in Iraq? Is Iran a proxy of China?”
People ignore that the opening statements of Khomeini, once he and his group had the reins of power in Iran was nothing more than a declaration of war against the United States, simply without using those words, and they have behaved consistently in demonstrating that is their intent. The mystery is why we have so many idiots who have never believed what the Iranian Mullahs themselves have said, from day one.
I’m puzzled. I thought we had transcended the technology of the old style bunker busters with the “deep digger” weapon, that has proven it can penetrate far deeper than is typical, by firing cannon from its nose.
But I expect that most of the Iranian facilities are not so deep that deep digger would be needed, so a lower tech bomb will do.
Knock Knock
Who’s there?
Bunker buster!
Bunker buster wh.......
There is more to this story. But the jist is pretty clear.....MOP is ready.
This bomb is SAT guided and uses it's weight and kinetic energy to penetrate, the explosives do the rest when it reaches the proper depth. Call it....'dial-a-floor'.
Since the nuke tipped BB was made inoperable, a replacement for the explosive had to be put in place. One that can create the same overpressure to collapes floors below it.
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