December 30, 2007: The U.S. Air Force
is modifying the B-2 bomber so that it can carry two 15 ton Massive Ordnance
Penetrator bombs [PHOTO]. These 21 foot long bombs have been in development since 2004,
with the first test models showing up in 2005. Operational characteristics (how
deep the bomb can go in different types of material) have only mentioned the
ability to penetrate 200 feet underground. The MOP is mostly metal, with about
18 percent of its weight devoted to explosives. It uses GPS, and inertial guidance,
to find its target. The MOP is the latest of a long line of American "superbombs."
In 2003, the U.S. put into service the
nine ton MOAB (Massive Ordnance Air Blast), but this has never been used in
combat. MOAB is pushed out the back of a SOCOM (Special Operations Command)
MC-130E aircraft. The blast can be felt several kilometers away, and the
mushroom shaped cloud (that rises to over 10,000 feet) can be seen more than 40
kilometers away.
MOAB replaced the Vietnam era BLU-82
(Daisy Cutter ) bomb, which used a 6.3 ton slurry of ammonium nitrate and
powdered aluminum. MOAB uses more powerful tritonal explosives. In addition to
a more powerful explosion, MOAB doesn't need a parachute, like the Daisy
Cutter, but uses a GPS (like JDAM) and an aerodynamic body to detonate the bomb
at a precise area. Thus the MOAB can be dropped from a higher altitude (like
outside the range of machine-guns and rifles).
MOAB is also shoved out the back of a
cargo aircraft (usually a C-130, but since the MOAB uses GPS and higher
altitude drops, the C-17 can probably be used as well.) MOAB is a highly
destructive and terrifying weapon. If used in combat, the force of a MOAB
explosion is sufficient to knock over tanks and kill any people within several
hundred meters of the detonation.
Russia has also built a bomb similar to
MOAB, but theirs contains 7.1 tons of a more powerful explosive than MOAB or
MOB used, and that the blast radius of the Russia bomb is 300 meters, which is
twice the size of MOAB, and larger than MOB. While MOAB is equivalent to 11
tons of TNT (the benchmark for measuring different explosives), the Russian
bomb was said to be equal to 44 tons of TNT. It also appeared, from the Russian
test video, that their bomb was a FAE (fuel air explosive). This could be seen
from the typical FAE two stage explosion. A Russian video also showed the area surrounding the blast, and the damage
was consistent with an FAE explosion, and about as powerful as MOAB. It appears
that the Russians were making publicity, not a factual announcement of a new
weapon.
