Posted on 07/20/2007 1:55:05 PM PDT by Enchante
American stealth bombers will soon be equipped to drop the Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP), the gigantic deep-bunker-blasting bomb currently being developed by the Yanks.
Northrop Grumman announced the relatively cheap $2.5m stealth-bomber refit contract yesterday. An undisclosed number of the US Air Force's 22 B-2 "Spirit" bombers will each be able to carry a brace of 15-tonne MOPs in around seven months' time.
The US Air Force says the B-2's stealth characteristics give it "the unique ability to penetrate an enemy's most sophisticated defenses and threaten his most valued, and heavily defended, targets".
The MOP mega-bomb, second heaviest conventional weapon ever built, is said to be able to drill through many metres of earth or concrete protection. Only 20 per cent of the weapon's weight is explosives; the rest is a hardened metal case. The idea is that the MOP will fall from high altitude and strike its target like a supersonic - or even hypersonic - spear, punching through to explode at the correct depth....
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Perhaps unsurprisingly, significant parts of the Natanz facilities are underground, buried beneath a few metres of concrete and perhaps 75 feet of earth. The MOP wouldn't have a problem with that, though
(Excerpt) Read more at theregister.co.uk ...
Message for Osama, Message for Osama...............
Bunker-nobbling??? WTH is that?
Not familiar with that headline word “nobbling” but apparently it means to “disable”..... my those Brits have some funny words! :^)
[America and Britain, two countries separated by a common language......]
“Bunker-nobbling??? WTH is that?”
I’ll refer you to the story about Hillary’s cleavage and let you make your own conclusions.
This means we already have it online.
Drop some MOP’s... on the ‘MOOPS’...
give it “the unique ability to penetrate an enemy’s most sophisticated defenses and threaten his most valued, and heavily defended, targets”...
OK Iran, we’re ready now. Bring it on.
Of course it depends on the construction of the bunker, but 75 feet is well within reach of a current 5000 pound bunker buster.
You deliver?
The article also mentioned the bomb would fall from a high altitude and obtain supersonic, even hypersonic, speed. Not sure how that could happen from a fall.
Not a very well written article.
Presumeably, this covers the cost of the "MOP-Capable" decals affixed somewhere on the nose of the aircraft.
An undisclosed number of the US Air Force's 22 B-2 "Spirit" bombers will each be able to carry a brace of 15-tonne MOPs in around seven months' time.
What is "a brace"? Is it 2, 3, 4, 10? I can't imagine it being more than 3, at 15 tons, unless "tonnes" weigh a bunch less (and just the word looks heavier).
Pinging horsey set and language set to the headline.
OK, let's see if we can figure out what "MOP" really means. Everyone knows that "MOAB" means "Mother of all bombs," which makes fun of ex-Saddam Hussein's "Mother of all battles" boast. Of course, some tight-arsed bureaucrat type said, "You can't call it that, it has to have some official-sounding name, like "Massive ordnance air burst."
So, what's "MOP?" Me, I vote for "Master of Pain." What say the rest of you?
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Lindsay sez give her a call. She'll explain to you what's bunker-nobbling! |
Nobble = inflict grievous bodily harm
Where there’s a mess, there’s a MOP.
re: “brace”
Yeah, I think the author is more than a bit careless about the “brace” (which connotes several, if I’m not mistaken) — at 15 tons, I would think only ONE of these babies would be carried by each B-2, but if the whole B-2 squadron can be equipped with it then that’s still a major major force.
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