Well back in the day
Posted on 05/03/2013 2:28:37 PM PDT by Pan_Yan
The Pentagon's biggest bunker-busting bomb has been upgraded with one task in mind: taking out suspected Iranian nuclear facilities built deep under the mountains of the Islamic Republic's northern region.
At 30,000 pounds, the Massive Ordnance Penetrator packs brute force and advanced features meant to enable it to destroy Iran's most fortified nuclear site. The bomb is nearly a third bigger than the MOAB, or so-called "Mother of all Bombs," the 22,000-pound previous generation of bunker busters first built in 2003 but never used outside of tests. Officials are confident the newest bunker-buster can dismantle even the deepest and most fortified nuclear facility.
"Hopefully we never have to use it," a senior U.S. official familiar with the development of the new version told The Wall Street Journal. "But if we had to, it would work."
The Pentagon redesigned the bomb with more advanced features intended to enable it to penetrate even deeper, giving it the ability to destroy Iran's most heavily fortified and defended nuclear site. U.S. officials see development of the weapon as critical to convincing Israel that the U.S. has the ability to prevent Iran from getting a nuclear bomb if diplomacy fails, and also that Israel's military can't do that on its own.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
I thought they used the MOAB in the beginning of the afghan war.
I agree. I further believe that the Jews today are a product of natural selection. Persecution, pogroms, and the holocaust has resulted in the survival of only the fittest and smartest.
Forgot about the weight.
Well? Will the bunker busters go to waste, or will our military forces use them? No more government waste!
BTTT
What the hell?
Use it, use it now.
Well back in the day
i think they they will surprise the goathumpers when the time comes BIG TIME... they don't have to destroy the bunkers, just make sure the ones in them die of suffocation before the can be dug out, and of that, i'm sure they can succeed
now there's an idea... it can carry the shuttle so why not
Good observation in your post #49.
Thanks Pan_Yan.
“Massive Ordnance Penetrator”
LOL... the jokes in repose...
Something that big, even if it did not penetrate all the way would create such a huge mass of debris that it would be almost impossible to dig out, given that we could use smaller bombs to destroy the repair crews and equipment.
Israel doesn't have a delivery system to carry these that can survive the missile environment they'd have to fly into. The B2 can carry only two of them and only after an $88 million dollar upgrade to only a few planes, courtesy of George W. Bush.
Thanks for the picture. :-)
It has occurred to me that much of the angst that Israel goes through about being able to get to Iran with Iraq, Turkey, and other not so friendly countries in the way (depending on the route chosen... could be resolved if Israel had a specialized aircraft carrier out in the Persian Gulf out of missile range. If Israel has started by buying an older conventional powered carrier and retro fitting for a limited number of aircraft specially modified for heavy loads and long range and short carrier takeoff ... then getting to Iran with the right bomb load and getting back to the carrier would be feasible. Israel has subs to help protect the carrier... So ...
I remember that, on the back of the 747.
Design a single use airframe around your penetrator bomb, perhaps with a propulsion package, that can be separated at an appropriate time.
Why not just hang the unit from the bottom of the 747 instead, like a belly tank? It's a long and slender package and the weight would be below the centerline instead of above it.
I don't think it needs any propulsion, just a guidance system. Gravity does the rest.
so launch cruise missiles from the subs and they don't need the carrier...
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