Article

2019-11-07 Government

Air Force Updates Massive Ordnance Penetrator Bombs Amid New Iranian Nuclear Posturing

[The Drive.com] The U.S. Air Force is continuing to update its stockpile of 30,000-pound class Massive Ordnance Penetrator bunker busters, or MOPs, and bring older MOPs up to the latest standard, also known as the GBU-57E/B. This comes as Iran has announced that it will begin injecting uranium hexafluoride gas into centrifuges at its underground nuclear facility at Fordo ‐ the kind of prospective target that drove the development of the MOP in the first place ‐ a significant breach of the controversial 2015 international agreement over the country's nuclear program.

On Oct. 28, 2019, the Air Force announced that it had awarded $90 million contracts to both Superior Forge & Steel Corp. of Lima, Ohio and Ellwood National Forge in Irvine, Pennsylvania for the production of an unspecified number of case assemblies for the BLU-127C/B warhead. The service separately confirmed to The War Zone that this is the warhead at the core of the GBU-57E/B variant, which has been in operational inventory since 2016. The B-2 Spirit stealth bomber is presently the only aircraft capable of and clear to employ the MOP operationally, though B-52 bombers have dropped some of the weapons in prior testing. The future B-21 Raider stealth bomber will also likely be able to carry these weapons.

Posted by Besoeker 2019-11-07 00:00|| || Front Page|| [14 views ] Top
File under: Govt of Iran

#1 All well and good, but one neutron bomb on Tehran would solve the problem.

Posted by M. Murcek 2019-11-07 03:12|| 2019-11-07 03:12|| Front Page Top

#2 Do we still have neutron bombs?

Posted by Uleck Spererong9442 2019-11-07 06:48|| 2019-11-07 06:48|| Front Page Top

#3 Don't ask, don't tell

Posted by Procopius2k 2019-11-07 07:19|| 2019-11-07 07:19|| Front Page Top

#4 MOP on a pile of U hexF might make a hell of a mess.

Posted by Mercutio 2019-11-07 09:23|| 2019-11-07 09:23|| Front Page Top

#5 MOP on a pile of U hexF might make a hell of a mess.

Salting the earth

Posted by Skidmark 2019-11-07 09:36|| 2019-11-07 09:36|| Front Page Top

#6 Chemical weapons! Arrrrgh!!

Posted by M. Murcek 2019-11-07 10:39|| 2019-11-07 10:39|| Front Page Top

#7 They're all chemical if you want to be technical about it. Heh!

Posted by AlmostAnonymous5839 2019-11-07 12:11|| 2019-11-07 12:11|| Front Page Top

10:01 swksvolFF
09:59 M. Murcek
09:58 Super Hose
09:56 Super Hose
09:53 Deacon+Blues
09:52 Deacon+Blues
09:51 Raj
09:49 Bobby
09:49 M. Murcek
09:47 Cleared Cookies Lost Nic
09:43 Dale
09:42 EMS Artifact
09:38 Procopius2k
09:38 EMS Artifact
09:37 Bobby
09:35 Procopius2k
09:34 Dale
09:28 Skidmark
09:24 Dale
09:16 Dale
09:06 Dale
09:03 DarthVader
09:01 DarthVader
08:58 Skidmark