Images Show Devastation at Iran Base After Blast

NY Times ^ | November 29, 2011 | WILLIAM J. BROAD

[neverdem]

The large, deadly explosion at an Iran military base in Iran on Nov. 12, which Iranian authorities have called an accident that set back research work there by a few days, appears to have been far more devastating than their description suggested, according to an analysis of newly released commercial satellite images of the blast site.

The images reveal vast destruction and chaotic disarray across a sprawling complex composed of more than a dozen buildings and large structures.

The Institute for Science and International Security, a private group in Washington, made the satellite images public Monday, along with an analysis of the damage. “It was pretty amazing to see that the entire facility was destroyed,” Paul Brannan, the report’s author, said Tuesday in an interview. “There were only a few buildings left standing.”

It was impossible to determine from the images whether the explosion had been a simple accident or an act of sabotage.

The force of the explosion was so great that it shook windows in many surrounding towns, according to Iranian news sites and witnesses quoted at the time. But no photographs of the blast damage were released by the Iranian government, which has become increasingly sensitive about its military capabilities as tensions escalate with the West over its missile and nuclear programs.

The base, set in an isolated patch of Iranian desert ringed by a security cordon, is about 30 miles west of Tehran and three miles west of the town of Bidganeh.

The explosion is already known to have killed 17 members of the armed forces, including a founder of the country’s missile program, Gen. Hassan Tehrani Moghaddam.

Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, presided over a vast state funeral for General Moghaddam and 16 other members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps two days after...

[aces]

Thanks..good info..

[Jewbacca]

Cruise missles going horizontally don’t particulaly leave a crater.

[org.whodat]

LOL.

[Jewbacca]

Chinese Embassy Belgrade, post cruise missle strike. Notice NO crater. In fact, because this hit was essentially an office building, no secondary explosions, which is what really takes a building down.

You can get a crater, of course. Here is a bit of a crater from a recent CM strike in Libya:

Not much of a hole, eh?

Cruise missles can make more of a crater, especially if they angle-down before impact like the old V-1s or if they simply have a huuuuuge payload.

More typically, however, the blast several meters above the surface and leave LESS of a crater than a comprable explosion just sitting on the surface, and MUCH LESS than any sort of ground penetrating weapon.

As an aside, I used to drop these guys on occassion and I've seen them blow up AND I've flown over the results.

I haven't a clue what caused this, other than to state that I doubt any sort of kinetic or penetrating weapon was used. Sabotage, IED, accident, or cruise missle are equally possible.