Military Aviation > Air Power

Readying the bomb for secret underground nuclear installations

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AVIATOR:
                    Pentagon's new bomb targets hidden weapons bunkers                                                                                                                                                                      14 October 2009                                                                                                                                                                                                                        THE Pentagon is speeding up delivery of a colossal bomb designed to destroy hidden weapons bunkers buried underground and shielded by 10,000lb of reinforced concrete.
                       
The 15-ton "massive ordnance penetrator" (MOP) will be the largest non-nuclear bomb in the US arsenal, ten times more powerful than the weapon it replaces. The Pentagon has awarded a $52 million (£33m) contract to speed up placement of the bomb aboard the B-2 Stealth bomber, and officials say the bomb could be fielded as soon as next summer.

Guided by global positioning system navigation, the MOP will be carried by Air Force B-2 bombers. Pentagon officials acknowledge the bomb is intended to blow up fortified sites such as those used by Iran and North Korea for their nuclear programmes, but deny specific targets.

A B-2 Stealth bomber can carry up to 23 tonnes of payload so if 15 tonnes isn't enough get ready for a bigger one that is.



Close down the sites or cop one of these.

Webmaster:
Any idea on its military designation? GPS guided, so I'd guess GBU-something?

AVIATOR:
Its technical designation appears to be GBU-43/B

Webmaster:
Don't think so, GBU-43 is the MOAB air blast bomb. I did a search, and it's GBU-57. I wonder what the article means with the bomb it is replacing... seems to me it's really replacing a nuke, as the GBU-27 and 28 won't be dropped from the inventory just because there's a bigger bomb.
 
Apparently two can be carried per B-2, that means the B-2's maximum warload is actually more than the 18 or 23 tonnes that's always reported. Which is not surprising considering the massive MTOW (150+ tonnes) and fuel capacity (75+ tonnes).
 
In line with the article, I'm talking metric tonnes.

AVIATOR:
You found it. I looked pretty hard but couldn't see the designation.

I think that the pertinent fact about this massive 'purpose built' weapon is............ are they going to use them or have they developed them simply to say to Iran and North Korea, "You have no place to hide your stuff, we can get them if we want"?
Knowing this must make a difference in bringing them to heel.

Secondly if the world is heading for a nuclear strike by a rogue nation, they will know that after the strike comes oblivion in the form of the arrival over their airspace of the B-2s

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