Boeing Ships Massive Bunker-Buster Bombs to the U.S. Air ForceNovember 18, 2011
Within days of a warning from the United Nations that Iran was still working on building a nuclear weapon, the Pentagon said it took delivery of the first of its kind “bunker-busting” bombs, according to The Los Angeles Times. Each one weighs about 30,000 pounds. Boeing delivered 20 bombs, known officially as Massive Ordnance Penetrators. The article noted that the Pentagon has kept Boeing from providing information about the program. Using previously released illustrations and information, the Times said they are GPS-guided ordnances capable of destroying deeply buried targets. They carry a 5,300-pound payload and are about 20 feet long. The Times story cited an article in Air Force Magazine in which Brigadier General Scott Vander Hamm said that there is "no other weapon that can get after those hard and deeply buried targets" like the Massive Ordnance Penetrator. The bomb is “specifically designed to go after very dense targets … where enemies are putting things that the president of the United States wants to hold at risk." The explosive power of the Massive Ordnance Penetrator is 10 times that of the previous bunker-buster model, the BLU-109. It also is nearly five tons heavier than next heaviest weapon in the U.S. military, the GBU-43 MOAB, known as the “mother of all bombs.” The new bombs can be dropped from either Boeing’s B-52 Stratofortress or Northrop Grumman’s B-2 stealth bombers |
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