Posted on 12/20/2009 10:40:31 AM PST by Strategy
WASHINGTON: A "bunker buster" bomb with more than 10 times the explosive power of its predecessor is to be put into service by the United States next December, six months later than previously scheduled, the Defense Department said. The deployment's timing may help shape new calculations in long standoffs with Iran and North Korea over their nuclear programs, much of which are believed to be underground to avoid detection and enhance their chances of surviving an attack.
(Excerpt) Read more at kuwaittimes.net ...
You are right. We are still suffering PR problems with that blunder. Just to be sure we should also tell them when we are going to be there.
I highly doubt it. There’s more to delivering a bomb than just dumping it out of a plane, especially delivering it with the accuracy and velocity required of a bunker buster. The C-130 simply isn’t designed for it.
Yes, there are some large bombs designed to be delivered by C-130, such as the Daisy Cutter and the MOAB, but those aren’t penetrators.
‘That mission’ being something involving Iran, of course.
If I remember correctly, the original bunker buster went from design inception to deployment in a matter of weeks. Of course, this one is probably a lot more sophisticated than original, which was really just an old gun barrel filled with explosives with a laser guidance system slapped on. Still, it isn’t an F-22, so it’s hard to see what the holdup is. Whatever Obama’s motives are, it’s pretty clear he isn’t approaching the Iranian threat with any sense of urgency.
Mutually assured destruction seems to have reduced the number of people killed in wars. Conservatives usually believe that it's a dangerous thing for only the police to have guns, so wouldn't it also be dangerous if only the big police governments and their socialist friends had nukes? It probably wouldn't pass legal muster these days to use nukes against an enemy that didn't also have nukes, so Iran is qualifying themselves to become a green sheet of glass if they don't grow up real fast. Like guns, more than 99% of the security value of nukes is their possession rather than their use.
I don't know if Israel has any heavy, long range bombers, but I suspect something like this could be pushed or parachute extracted from a cargo plane. A spotter on the ground or in another aircraft could illuminate the target with a laser for guidance.
That's a "Green Job" many FReepers would like to get.
The child in chief has explained he will start pulling our troops out of Afghanistan in 2011. So when is this weapon going to be ready for service? 2011.
This type of weapon has a real purpose in Afghanistan, with the Taliban holed up in caves and the like. The weapon could be used there.
One cannot be faulted for pondering what the real hold-up is, and whether there will be another.
Who is this story was intended for? I don’t believe a word of it.
They kept vital information as secret as possible, disseminated false information and tapped into the German and Japanese communications codes (Enigma and JN-25 respectively).
Now why are the generals and admirals unnecessarily revealing this vital information, huh? Why? They would have risked severe court martial for repeated violations of OPSEC protocol. What a childish way of waging psychological warfare. It just gives the enemy advance warning of intended U.S. strikes.
Adm. Chester Nimitz was much smarter. Remember the Battle of Midway and how he had covert access to JN-25?
Wow. Someone could get hurt.
Reminds me of som 55 year olds I party with. None of them are penatrators.But they like to think so.
The contractors and the USAF wrote to Gates saying they wanted to send a laetter stating that the BB was ready.
Obama had Gates write back and say, “We are not ready for it to be ready,. So delay it another six months.”
They did the same thing with McChrystal’s troop request.
The Penetrator is ready. It was to be ready by the end of Dec. 2009.
Obama is too much of a wimp to use a penetrator, he prefers “drones.” like the drone he himself is.
They should be shipped immediately to Israel.
Yes, I expect Iran to nuke our forces in Iraq and China and Russia to move into the vacume created by the lack of National Guard troops... in America.
What makes you say that, if you are referring to Predators and the like?
Yes, drones all across the board.
I would think that 0 would be sensitive to cries of ‘targeted assasinations’ for the use of UAVs.
If the recent reports are to be believed, the USN were the ones who fired a few cruise missles Yemen-way recently. afaik the navy doesn’t use drones, they were launched from DDGs.
Obama has been directing drone strikes almost daily inside of Pakistan.
I was not referring to the cruise missiles launched against Yemeni targets.
Then you have all the other drones, Ram Manual, Axeworthy, Jennings,Napolitano, the list is lengthy.
These penatrators should be given to the Israelis who need them, if he wolll not use them himsef. IMHO they are ready and on schedule. Obama is POS large.
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