Meet MOP, Boeing's new bunker-busting super-bomb

Seattle Times ^ | 4-5-07 | Tom Brown

[NavyCanDo]

As U.S. concern about the nuclear ambitions of North Korea and Iran have grown, weapons designers have been working on bombs capable of destroying those countries' underground nuclear sites.

Some nuclear facilities in both countries are believed to be buried deep, so U.S. designers — including some from Boeing — are developing a new class of bombs for plowing through hundreds of feet of earth and concrete before detonating.

The latest of these weapons is the MOP — short for Massive Ordnance Penetrator — built by Boeing's Advanced Systems unit in St. Louis. The 20-foot-long bomb that weighs 30,000 pounds — much heavier than the 21,000-pound MOAB, or Massive Ordnance Air Burst bomb, unveiled in the prelude to the Iraq war. The MOAB was designed by the Air Force Research Lab and is built at the McAlester Army Ammunition Plant in Oklahoma.

The MOP is an unusual bomb in that more than 80 percent of its 15 tons is in its casing, while it carries only 5,300 pounds of explosive payload

[GOPJ]

My word, how does the USAF deliver something as large as the MOP?

Anyone?

[Boiler Plate]

Do you still have to count to Five?

[HereInTheHeartland]

I want one, will they go direct to the consumer?

[Boiler Plate]

Halon is no longer available and has been replace with FM200. CO2 or CO are cheaper and more readily available.

[Boiler Plate]

It looks as though it would fit in a B2. The B2 has a payload of 20 tons so it could probably do the trick.