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

AP ^

[Semper911]

Mar 10, 2003

Test of 'massive' Air Force Bomb Set for Tuesday at Eglin

The Associated Press

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.

[Semper911]

Keywords in honor of AF_Blue

Good thinking. Dang, I thought for sure the DOD would release video before the evening news deadlines. Why weren't there any newscopters in the air, with those megazoom cameras they have? You'd have thought they would be all over it.

[finnman69]

CNN has a cool animation of the being dropped off leaving behind a huge yellow mushroom cloud.

http://i.a.cnn.net/cnn/interactive/us/0303/moab.vs.daisy.cutter/MOAB_Web.mpg

[finnman69]

CNN has a cool animation of the MOAB being dropped by a C-130 leaving behind a huge yellow mushroom cloud.

http://i.a.cnn.net/cnn/interactive/us/0303/moab.vs.daisy.cutter/MOAB_Web.mpg

[VOA]

One of the reasons for the delayed response by the Japanese was that the destruction
in Hiroshima was so severe that communications were cut off and Tokyo didn't know what
had happened for about a day.

Pretty amazing that a God-King couldn't just get into one of his private planes and
go fly over what remained of Hiroshima.

But then a lot of wild things happen during war-time...

[mikenola]

First Image! (not very good)

[Semper911]

Just saw the video on Fox. Not that impressive, because there is nothing around to give a sense of scale. Also, it was hazy, and the image wasn't that good.

Wasn't it supposed to be an air burst? This was a ground impact-type explosion.

I can hear Saddam yawning now.

[hole_n_one]

Video

The video starts with the bomb already having been released and on it's long decent to earth.......Novak jokes that watching the bomb fall looks like MSNBC's ratings (that's why the laughter at the start of the video)

[Hillarys Gate Cult]

Fox News just had video of the blast. Way cool. The Pentagon sent it through a computer file. I think they're still trying to pick the best shots for release.

[null and void]

Or peace time, for that matter.

The Soviet Union when into spastic twitchy shock when the RMBK reactor at Chernobyl blew it's lid...

[Semper911]

Thanks mik. Looks like we will have to wait for the live-fire video feeds (if you know what I mean) before we get the audio.

Thanks for taking the time to put up the pic.

[mikenola]

[Hillarys Gate Cult]

The term air burst is correct in cases like this. An air burst of this type denotes that it was set off before contact with the ground, so there is less of a crater. These type of air bursts look like ground explosions, but they're not.

[Pablo64]

BIG ba-da-boom!!!!

Wheeeee-haaaaaah!!

[Semper911]

Interesting, thanks. What I don't know about ordinance could fill a book.

[mikenola]

The game is over...

[VOA]

Just saw the video on Fox. Not that impressive, because there is nothing around
to give a sense of scale.

What the guvmint should do is have some military spokesman say that that blast
would have flattened 3.4 of Saddam's palaces...and anyone inside would have been entombed
even if they were in any sort of underground bunker.

Unless they had an exit about 4 miles away that didn't get buried by junk blown apart
by the shockwave.

[sit-rep]

I would like to be close enough to feel it... hearing it would be cool, but if you could feel it. Not to the point of pain, but almost. That would be the real sense of what this thing can do...

[Semper911]

hearing it would be cool, but if you could feel it.

I hear you. Like when you feel a loud noise in your chest. Got to be enough to scare the crap out of anyone.

[Blue Scourge]

I'm not sure on the size, but judging by the still posted by mikenola, it's pretty damn big. Look infront of the fireball, I believe those are trees.

[Semper911]

it's pretty damn big

I guess you're right. I was just expecting.. well... spectacular. You know, for the PR factor.