Test of Massive Air Force Bomb Set for Tuesday at Eglin AFB (Florida)

EGLIN AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. (AP) - A conventional bomb so big that it's first name is "massive" is set to be tested for the first time at this Florida Panhandle base Tuesday.

Air Force officials Monday warned residents of communities surrounding the western half Eglin's 724-square-mile military reservation to be prepared to hear an explosion that sounds like thunder or a slamming door between noon and 5 p.m. CST although the blast will be miles away.

The loudness of the 21,000-pound "massive ordnance air burst," or MOAB, will vary depending on wind currents and some people may not hear it at all, Eglin officials said in a brief news release.

They added that the test will be conducted only under weather conditions best for minimizing the sound and inside a buffer zone to keep a shock wave and debris from the explosion inside Eglin's boundaries. The backup date for the test is Thursday during the same time frame.

MOAB is similar to but 40 percent heavier than the 15,000-pound BLU-82, billed as the world's most powerful non-nuclear bomb and known to send up a mushroom cloud similar to a nuclear weapon.

The BLU-82, nicknamed "daisy cutter," was developed during the Vietnam War to create jungle clearings for use as helicopter landing areas. It was most recently dropped in Afghanistan on caves where al-Qaida leaders were suspected of hiding.

In the Persian Gulf War, it was used to clear minefields. MOAB is expected to be ready for use this year if the test is successful.

Areas where civilians may be able to hear the blast are Mary Esther, Navarre, Holly, Holt and western Crestview.

Back ground info

http://www.strategypage.com/gallery/default.asp?target=moab.htm

February 27, 2003: The U.S. Air Force is developing a new, 2nd generation, ten ton large, low air burst bomb. It will replace the older "Daisy Cutter" 7.5 ton bomb developed during the 1960s. This was a 7.5 ton bomb using a semi-liquid explosive for clearing landing zones in the Vietnam jungle. The terms "Daisy Cutter" actually comes from the four foot probe at the bottom of the bomb which triggered the explosion without creating a crater (helicopters don't like to land in craters.) The probe was later replaced with a radar altimeter fuze, but the nickname "Daisy Cutter" stuck. The official designation was BLU-82 (or "Big Blue"). Until the BLU-82 came along, the biggest non-nuclear explosion obtainable was with a FAE (Fuel Air Explosives). FAE works by dropping a bomb that is actually a large aerosol dispenser. When the FAE "explodes" it first dispenses a large cloud of flammable material (anything like gasoline or propane will work). The cloud is then ignited and huge explosion results. There's one drawback, the size and density of the aerosol cloud depends a lot on the wind, air temperature and humidity. So the power of the explosion will vary a lot. But it's difficult to get a FAE to work in a bomb larger than 2000 pounds. So the replacement for the BLU-82 bomb, called MOAB (Massive Ordnance Air Burst) simply uses more of the slurry of ammonium nitrate and powdered aluminum. In dry, dusty conditions, the Daisy Cutter produces a mushroom cloud similar to that created by a nuclear explosion (and for the same reason, the sheer size of the explosion creates an upward pull that sends up a "mushroom" of smoke and dust on a column of smoke). In addition to a more powerful explosion, MOAB doesn’t need a parachute, like the Daisy Cutter, but uses a GPS (like JDAM) and an aerodynamic body to detonate the bomb at a precise area. Thus the MOAB can be dropped from a higher altitude (like outside the range of machine-guns and rifles). Like the Daisy Cutter, MOAB is shoved out the back of a cargo aircraft (usually a C-130, but since the MOAB uses GPS and higher altitude drops, the C-17 can probably be used as well.) MOAB is a highly destructive and terrifying weapon. If used in Iraq, it would demoralize any Iraqi troops in the vicinity who survived the explosion. The force of a MOAB explosion is sufficient to knock over tanks and kill any people within several hundred meters of the detonation. After the 1991 Gulf War, the United States started to get rid of it's various FAE weapons. But some were left in the inventory when the Afghanistan came along and the success of Daisy Cutters there, plus the new Russian research in FAE weapons, led to the new American research effort. There may be larger, or simply more powerful, FAE weapons in the works. But for the moment, MOAB, using pretty old fashioned technology, is the biggest non-nuclear bomb around.

I wouldn't have guessed that 13 mi is necessarily a safe distance

There shouldn't be a problem. The kill radius of these is measured in hundreds of yards not in miles, and for that reason these press reports about the magnitude of this bomb and the smaller Daisy Cutter are highly overblown.

For comparison purposes, "Little Boy", the bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima, had the explosive equivalent of 20 kilotons - 20,000 tons of TNT. This bomb, massive as it is, comes in at 10 and one half tons. Doing the math, it is .0525 % (five and a quarter ten thousandths) the destructive force of what would now be a minor league nuclear device.

Are MOAB and Daisy Cutter tremendously effective at clearing ground and snuffing cave and bunker dwellers? Absolutely. But I think that has much more to do with what the fuel/air detonation does to the local atmosphere than the sheer power of the bomb.

Now what Iraq has to consider is that a likely response to a WMD attack on us or the Israelis will be something thousands of times bigger. Little Boy caused the deaths of over 100,000 people in a city that amounted to a small suburb of Baghdad. I'm not certain they understand what kind of fire they will play with if they start using biochem.

All due respect....but this "AP report" is: BULL SH#T!!!

It just amazes me how many silly people believe so many stupid things!....And still post'em!

91 posted on 03/10/2003 8:27 PM PST by Mustang (Evil Thrives When Good People Do Nothing!) [ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies | Report Abuse ]

Me thinks my profile has a bunch more credence than your empty one. btw..when one is right, "figg'ing it out", doesn't cut it. Knowledge is Power!

Eglin expected to test `monster bomb' today Kimberly Blair @PensacolaNewsJournal.com Eglin Air Force Base will test a large bomb today on its western range. Residents from Crestview to Navarre can expect to hear a large boom sometime between noon and 5 p.m. Eglin officials would not confirm it, but a Pentagon official said the base was planning the first test this week of the 21,000- pound "massive ordnance air burst" bomb. The "monster bomb's" explosive blast is so massive it is similar to a small nuclear weapon, though the damage from it is much less. The boom is supposed to sound like a thunder clap or a slamming door. Because wind currents affect sound waves, some residents might hear the boom more intensely, and others may not hear it all. Eglin officials said they are doing everything possible to ensure the safety of surrounding communities. The test would only be conducted under "optimum" weather conditions to minimize its impact. If the weather doesn't cooperate, Thursday is the back-up date for the test. Few details are available on the bomb, but Gloria Cales with Air Force Headquarters at the Pentagon said it is an updated version of the 15,000-pound Daisy Cutter, first used in the Vietnam War to clear helicopter landing zones. News of the tests has worried some residents and excited others. "Two or three of my friends talked about going over to watch it - from a distance," said Brandon Hamilton, 29, of Pensacola. "Or we will just sit back in our house and feel it."

So this is all bull sh*t? And since when does someone's profile give them credibility? It appears yours certainly doesn't.

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