After delays, massive US bunker-buster available
In the face of possible military intervention in Syria
and a strike against Iran, the United States has announced that its largest
bunker-buster missile capable of penetrating underground facilities is
operational and ready for use if needed.
Called the Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP), the
30,000-pound bomb – which contains over 5,000 pounds of explosives – was
originally designed to take out hardened fortifications in Iran and North
Korea.
The announcement that it is operational comes at a time
that the western world is increasingly concerned over the potential proliferation
of Syria’s chemical weapons to Hezbollah.
“If it needed to go today, we would be ready to do that,”
United States Air Force Secretary Michael Donley told the Air Force Times this
week.
“We continue to do testing on the bomb to refine its
capabilities, and that is ongoing. We also have the capability to go with
existing configuration today.”
Donley’s announcement that the MOP is operational comes
after Defense Secretary Leon Panetta told The Wall Street Journal earlier this
year that the bomb had shortcomings against some of Iran’s deep bunker
facilities. According to the report, the Pentagon has spent over $300 million
to develop the bomb, which is made by Boeing.
Israel has closely followed the development of the MOP,
also known as the GBU-57. The MOP is said to be able to penetrate around 60
meters. It is unclear, however, how Israel would deploy such a bomb which would
not fit onto its current fleet of combat aircraft. The US Air Force intends to
deploy the MOP on B-2 bombers which can carry a far larger payload than the
Israel Air Force’s F- 15s and F-16s.
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