Global Research 05.05.2013
Under the title Pentagon bulks up ‘bunker buster’ bomb to combat Iran: U.S. Upgrades Weapon to Penetrate Key Nuclear Site; Push to Persuade Israelis, The Wall Street Journal reports that the US military is planning to use its “biggest” conventional bunker buster bombs against Iran:
The Pentagon has redesigned its biggest “bunker buster” bomb with more advanced features intended to enable it to destroy Iran’s most heavily fortified and defended nuclear site.
The newest version of what is the Pentagon’s largest conventional bomb, the 30,000-pound Massive Ordnance Penetrator, or MOP, has adjusted fuses to maximize its burrowing power, upgraded guidance systems to improve its precision and high-tech equipment intended to allow it to evade Iranian air defenses in order to reach and destroy the Fordow nuclear enrichment complex, which is buried under a mountain near the Iranian city of Qom. […]
The improvements are meant to address U.S. and Israeli concerns that Fordow couldn’t be destroyed from the air. […] Fordow has long been thought to be a target that would be difficult if not impossible for the U.S. to destroy with conventional weapons. (WSJ, May 3, 2013)
The official explanation for the possible use of the MOP bomb is that Israel does not have the military capabilities within its own weapons arsenal to permanently disable Iran’s nuclear facilities:
“U.S. officials see development of the weapon as critical to convincing Israel that the U.S. has the ability to prevent Iran from getting a nuclear bomb if diplomacy fails, and also that Israel’s military can’t do that on its own.” (op cit)
The Mother of All Bombs” (MOAB)
The MOP Massive Ordinance Penetrator is nicknamed the “mother of all bombs”. Its use would inevitably trigger an an out war against Iran with a scenario of military escalation.
The GBU-43/B or Massive Ordnance Air Blast bomb (MOAB) version was categorized in 2003 “as the most powerful non-nuclear weapon ever designed” with the the largest yield in the US conventional arsenal. The earlier 21,500 MOAB bomb was first tested in March 2003 before being deployed to the Iraq war theater.
full story here
