Posted on 09/29/2009 5:03:25 PM PDT by honestabe010
The Pentagon has brought forward to December 2009 the target-date for producing the first 15-ton super bunker-buster bomb (GBU-57A/B) Massive Ordinance Penetrator, which can reach a depth of 60.09 meters underground before exploding. DEBKAfile's military sources report that top defense agencies and air force units were also working against the clock to adapt the bay of a B2a Stealth bomber for carrying and delivering the bomb.
The Pentagon has ordered the number of bombs rolling off the production line increased from four to ten - a rush job triggered in May by the discovery that Iran was hiding a second uranium enrichment plant under a mountain near Qom - a discovery which prompted this week's international outcry.
Congress has since quietly inserted the necessary funding in the 2009 budget.
All this urgency indicates that the Obama administration has been preparing military muscle to back up the international condemnation of Iran's concealed nuclear bomb program, its sanctions threat and his willingness to join the negotiations with Iran opening on Oct. 1 in Geneva. Tehran may have to take into account a possible one-time surgical strike against its underground enrichment facility as a warning shot should its defiance continue. In particular, the world powers this week demanded that Iran open up all its nuclear facilities and programs to full and immediate international inspection. Failure to do so could bring forth further US military action.
According to our military sources, the earliest date for the accelerated Pentagon program to produce a super bunker buster bomb mounted on a stealth bomber is December 2009 or January 2010. This too is three years ahead of its original schedule.
(Excerpt) Read more at debka.com ...
Shhh! Don’t tell Obama.
We need them now. Not December.
Not a millimeter more!
This with the news that the Saudis had green-lighted the Israelis to use their airspace...
just messin’ with Sasquatch.
*chuckle* *snort*
Don’t tell the fuhrer!
They had to keep the STG-44 a secret from him so he would not cancel it.
It’s a Christmas present.
Must be a precision bomb also. ;-)
I’d prefer nuke bunker busters.
This thing IS a (non nuclear, but very powerful) warhead.
Non-nuclear does have the virtue of not leaving the area radioactively hot. So ground forces can come right in without waiting.
Get some better engineering and maybe they can get it down to 60.0918575 meters.
Hmmm.... Should make for an interesting project.
It is a bit overly precise, and doesn’t convert to a round number in English units, either. (197.0952’)
About 500 of these scattered around should work quite nicely.
Shipping to Israel?
I want to see it go BOOM!
Do it twice and you have 120.18 meters.
We do have microwave, laser, sound and nuc technology we can use not needing any of this.
The American people have been burdened with massive taxes to develop the most advanced technology in the world our DNC gives to others but we need to use.
But, with nuclear warheads, ground troops don’t need to go in? ;-)
It should be a one-time, surgical strike back to the stone age for ALL their nuke and missile sights. Not a warning shot, an all-hell-breaks-loose and nothing is left but some smoldering ruins. Surgical in the sense of precision and speed. They have had YEARS to shape up. The part about the Saudi's giving the Israelis the go-ahead makes perfect sense to me. I am sure they don't want that craziness right on their flank, anymore than the Israelis do.
Now THAT”S Hope and Change I can believe in.....to our enemies I say “YES, WE CAN!!!”. HA.
I sure wish the ‘RATS hadn’t killed the nuclear bunker buster idea.
Not knowing how deep the bunker goes, it may be desirable to invade it.
Thanks, good point.
I don’t think it is really dead, it has just gone “black”!
I agree. Part of DARPA
Hasn’t Barry stopped this yet?
The bunker busters can collapse the entry tunnels and shafts if the facility is too deep to reach directly, thus burying those involved alive....or not.
That’s beautiful. I love the way anything looks that kills our enemies.
I don’t like to rain on peoples’ parades, but debka has never been known as a reliable source.
Now, lets say it’s true. Obama is preparing to use ten of these babies on iranian nuke sites.
It’s gonna take a whole lot more than that. First the radar must be taken out. then the air force. Then the ground based air defenses. You would probably be looking at a solid week(or more) of bombing runs and cruise missiles BEFORE the B52s could get into range to drop a bunker buster.
That’s my best uneducated guess anyway.
Why build what the weakling president and Congress don’t have the will to use?
- JP
An undergroud nuclear explosion would be ideal. They would not be able to rebuild on site for 100 years.
These are already being tested. I hope they get them on lne ASAP.
Massive ordnance penetrator (MOP) v. thermobaric interesting tech discussion here among the replies
Me too but they don’t want to get into the whole nuke issue. That’s why they are making is so massive.
You beat me to it.
I hope that we are better a secrets than this. I hope that these stories are bs and that we already have the buster in service.
A really dirty nuc delivered on site would be one way to neutralize the plant.
Like the way you think!
Remember when the israelies took out the syrian nuke sites? The syrans were so ashamed they claimed they did it themselves by accident...at first.
We has something better! The B53 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B53_nuclear_bomb
They are getting old, so time to “use them or loose them”.
Won’t the fallout from the material we’re destroying render the place too hot to re-occupy?
Maybe, but doubtful.
Do a double decker - First one at T-1; Second one 30 minutes later with same GPS co-ordinates.
Seems kinda late for this.
Maybe the Saudis will do it themselves. Wouldn’t that be interesting?
and the reason we don't use a bomb encased in a tungsten ballistic missile is???
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.