Slashdot Mirror
30,000-Lb. Bomb On Fast Track For Deployment
coondoggie writes "Published reports today say the Pentagon is rattling swords in the direction of North Korea and Iran by speeding the development a 20-foot, 30,000-lb bomb known as Massive Ordnance Penetrator. This weapon is intended to annihilate underground bunkers and other hardened sites (read: long-range missile or underground nuke development) up to 200 ft. underground. The Defense Threat Reduction Agency, which has overseen the development of this monster since 2007, says it is designed to be carried aboard B-2 and B-52 bombers and deployed at high altitudes, from which it would strike the ground at speeds well beyond twice the speed of sound to penetrate the below-ground target." Reuters has more specifics on the MOP's chances for deployment by 2010, and the detail that the bomb's load of explosives weighs in at 5,300 lbs.
Which one's actually used a nuke?
Property is theft.
Guns don't kill people... Or does that only apply when people question the US gun laws?
Since we're just hearing about these, my assumption is that production is long since underway and that we have already offered them to Israel (if not supplied them) a year or so ago, hoping that they'll use them in their Iran air raids instead of nukes.
But nukes will work while something less may not. And these MOBs are new and untested on the battlefield. Israel can try the new American bombs on the hope that they _may_ work or instead they may simply nuke Iran's facilities with their own bombs guaranteeing success. I would choose the latter and be done with it: close membership in the nuclear club while you still can.