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The Massive Ordnance Penetrator Will Be the Largest Non-Nuclear Bomb Ever
Popular Science ^ | August 3, 2009 | Dan Smith

Posted on 09/19/2009 5:30:50 AM PDT by lbryce

The Pentagon is trying to speed up the deployment of an ultra-large bunker-busting bomb, which would constitute the largest non-nuclear bomb the U.S. has ever used. The Massive Ordnance Penetrator, or MOP, is a 30,000-pound bomb that would dive deeper than any previous bomb, and could be strapped to B-2 or B-52 bombers by July of 2010.

The MOP is 20 feet long and can penetrate bunkers up to 200 feet before exploding. At 15 tons, the MOP is a third heavier than the previous "mother of all bombs", the GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast bomb, which was only 10.5 tons. The MOP also packs a whopping 5,300 lbs of explosives, which is 10 times the amount its predecessor bunker-buster, the BLU-109, carried. Basically, it's massive.

The push for accelerated deployment is due to the increased perceived nuclear threats from Iran and North Korea. It's believed that many of their nuclear programs could be in development underground, below levels of current bunker-busting bombs' range. The Pentagon intends the rapid deployment to send a message that the United States is tweaking strategies to address new threats. And nothing is more American than advertising the sheer size and tonnage of the bombs hanging below our jets.



TOPICS:
KEYWORDS: ahmadinejad; bunkerbuster; iran; repost
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To: bt_dooftlook

By the way, the MOP is the largest GUIDED bomb. . .ever.


61 posted on 09/19/2009 7:34:47 AM PDT by Hulka
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To: Vn_survivor_67-68

That is true, as the there have been only three test drops thus far and no publicly released photos. . .yet.


62 posted on 09/19/2009 7:35:58 AM PDT by Hulka
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To: Blueflag

And we will.


63 posted on 09/19/2009 7:36:50 AM PDT by Hulka
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To: jpsb
Wouldn't an object of that mass traveling at 20,000 mph cause damage equivalent to a nuclear weapon?
64 posted on 09/19/2009 7:37:18 AM PDT by JrsyJack (There's a little Jim Thompson in all of us)
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To: JrsyJack

Yes, but weapons in space are prohibited by treaty.

We can use space to transit our weapons en-route to the target but we can’t base them there.


65 posted on 09/19/2009 7:40:54 AM PDT by Hulka
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To: Hulka

had one of them not gotten lippy early on, I wouldn’t have bothered to click the source link.....my original comment was based on only my untrained eyes......vs written word comprehension....LOL.....but I’ve seen a few writings and detonations in my days though :)


66 posted on 09/19/2009 7:45:21 AM PDT by Vn_survivor_67-68 (CALL CONGRESSCRITTERS TOLL-FREE @ 1-800-965-4701)
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To: Vn_survivor_67-68

Understood.

No worries.


67 posted on 09/19/2009 7:47:26 AM PDT by Hulka
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To: Vn_survivor_67-68

By the way, the MOP is my favorite weapon and I have been studying on it and following it best I can.

Awesome weapon. Just awesome.


68 posted on 09/19/2009 7:48:27 AM PDT by Hulka
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To: Vn_survivor_67-68

LOL.

Good point.

I stand corrected.

Carry on. LOL.


69 posted on 09/19/2009 7:51:19 AM PDT by EricT. ("Mankind, when left to themselves, are unfit for their own government." -George Washington)
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To: jpsb

“What’s the big deal? The 16 inch AP round on a Iowa class Battleship could penetrate 160 feet. Maybe we should build some big guns again?

Maybe we shouldn’t have moth-balled our battleships aster having spent hundreds of millions of dollars on modernizing them.

And our F-117s.

And our Blackbird.

And our F-22s.

The list goes on and on.......


70 posted on 09/19/2009 8:03:54 AM PDT by DontTreadOnMe2009 (So stop treading on me already!)
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To: Hulka

Awesome weapon. Just awesome.

Totally agree.....I just wish we had a real CIC......I am intrigued by the magnetic Rail guns as well, but it will be awhile before we see them past R&D concepts....somewhere I have a photograph of a monster artillery piece I snapped in early 1967 at Ft Sill.....it was on display, not as any units TO&E....(I was in a Pershing unti at the time)....the barrel was about 100ft long and dia was huge, like a foot or more....it could fire nuclear rounds as well as HE, etc


71 posted on 09/19/2009 8:04:40 AM PDT by Vn_survivor_67-68 (CALL CONGRESSCRITTERS TOLL-FREE @ 1-800-965-4701)
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To: lbryce

One fuel air bomb

+

Osama Bin Hidin’

=

Success

and prestige in the Arab world.

Oh, I forgot, we don’t want that .....


72 posted on 09/19/2009 8:10:11 AM PDT by DontTreadOnMe2009 (So stop treading on me already!)
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To: lbryce

Lets test it out on the cube in Mecca!


73 posted on 09/19/2009 8:15:26 AM PDT by Ruy Dias de Bivar (That's reicest you dirty rat dog Reicest you! Reicest I say! I gonna cutchu boy!)
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To: Blueflag
And as you suggest, the MOP is designed to penetrate multiple layers of purpose-built bunker concrete. It has some really sophisticated fusing as well as clever explosive design to get the best effect from the blast. It’s not about making a huge crater; it’s about destroying what’s below and next to it.

It's basically a delivery device for a shaped charge. I couldn't imagine what that would feel like standing a mile from that. The blast would probably cave in my chest.... but I'd like to be maybe 3 - 4 miles away to witness it. The government should sell tickets, I know that I'd buy them.

74 posted on 09/19/2009 8:19:43 AM PDT by erman (Give a man a fire, warm him for one night. Set a man on fire, warm him for the rest of his life.)
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To: TexasFreeper2009

Look up WW2 Grand Slam bomb... nothing new, the concept works and is battle proved


75 posted on 09/19/2009 9:42:17 AM PDT by tophat9000 (Obama plans to fix America like he fixed his dog)
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To: Blueflag

IIRC, you could actually see that occurring in Baghdad during “Shock and Awe”. Looking across the river, there would be an explosion, and seconds later, a “pillar of flame and debris” would “squirt” skyward in a narrow plume at the same spot...


76 posted on 09/19/2009 2:16:37 PM PDT by TXnMA ("Allah": Satan's current alias...)
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To: Vn_survivor_67-68
That was General Chuck Horner, USAF, who showed the video of the Paveway going down the air/elevator shaft and blowing out the sides of the building several floors below -- and who uttered the famous line, "This is my counterpart's headquarters..." (See Clancy and Horne, "Every Man a Tiger", p569.
77 posted on 09/19/2009 3:02:19 PM PDT by TXnMA ("Allah": Satan's current alias...)
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To: TXnMA

“”This is my counterpart’s headquarters...”

Yes, I remember the line now that you posted it.....same spirit and effect as I appreciated so dearly in General Schwarzkopf and others (Colon Bowel not included) so many times. Tks.


78 posted on 09/19/2009 3:17:19 PM PDT by Vn_survivor_67-68 (CALL CONGRESSCRITTERS TOLL-FREE @ 1-800-965-4701)
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To: Vn_survivor_67-68

LOL!!! That was sheer coincidence: I just finished reading the book... ‘-)


79 posted on 09/19/2009 3:25:18 PM PDT by TXnMA ("Allah": Satan's current alias...)
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To: fso301

If he drops those bombs, he’ll have to change religion.


80 posted on 09/19/2009 3:33:26 PM PDT by nufsed (Release the birth certificate, passport, and school records.)
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