Monday, July 23, 2007

Report: Stealth bombers to be fitted with 'bunker buster' bombs

Above: The MOP being offloaded at White Sands Missile Range. Developed by the US Defense Threat Reduction Agency, the Massive Ordnance Penetrator is a conventional 30,000-pound penetrating bomb designed to defeat hard and deeply buried targets such as bunker and tunnel facilities. Intended to be carried in B-2 and B-52 bombers and employed at high altitudes, the MOP includes a global positioning navigation system and over 5,300 pounds of explosives, making it the largest conventional bomb ever. The DTRA successfully conducted the first explosive test last March.

US Air Force B-2 Stealth bombers will soon be fitted with newly-developed 15-tonne Massive Ordnance Penetrator bombs.

American military sources say the gigantic new bunker-blaster is designed to hit fortified underground targets such as Iran’s uranium-enrichment facility at Natanz.

It will be capable of drilling through many meters of earth or concrete. When it falls from a high altitude, the MOP – composed of 20% explosives, 80% hardened metal - will punch a hole in the toughest protective casing before exploding in depth. It is GPS guided.

Read the rest at Debka

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