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The United States and Iran have engaged in a war of words over their military capabilities in the last few weeks. But if an actual war breaks out, it will not be a war of U.S. bombs versus Iranian bombs, but of U.S. bombs versus Iran's bunkers. Iran's network of nuclear facilities, some of which are underground, would be the primary target of an Israeli or U.S. attack intended to destroy Iran's suspected clandestine weapons program. As the rhetoric has heated up, the United States has been talking up its military capabilities. Whether American or Israeli bombs indeed could penetrate...

"Two days ago Obama held a press conference in which he openly prevaricated and disinformed the world about the true nature of his meeting with Israel PM Netanyahu. Today we find what was truly discussed, courtesy of Israel's Maariv newspaper, Spiegel and Reuters, which all tell us that it was a simple case of quid pro quo, namely that Barack Obama would supply Israel with bunker-busters and refueling planes if Bibi promised to delay an Iran attack until after the presidential election. The implication is simple - avoid an oil price shock this summer and delay it until next winter...

The US might sell Israel special arms and munitions that would enable an Israeli strike on Iran, an unnamed military source told Army Radio Tuesday night.

Bunker-busting Smart concrete Iran makes some of the world’s toughest concrete. It can cope with earthquakes and, perhaps, bunker-busting bombs A DUAL-USE technology is one that has both civilian and military applications. Enriching uranium is a good example. A country may legitimately do so to fuel power stations. Or it may do so illegitimately to arm undeclared nuclear weapons. Few, however, would think of concrete as a dual-use technology. But it can be. And one country—as it happens, one that is very interested in enriching uranium—is also good at making what is known as “ultra-high performance concrete” (UHPC). Iran is...

Israel has developed a new 500 pound (227 kg) penetrator bomb, the MPR-500. The MPR-500 can smash through more than a meter (39 inches) of concrete, or four 200mm (8 inch) concrete barriers (floors or bunker walls) and then detonate. When the MPR-500 explodes, it releases 26,000 fragments, which will wound or kill out to 100 meters. While the MPR-500 is an unguided bomb, it is most useful when mated with a guidance kit to become a smart bomb. The most common such kit is the American JDAM, which converts 500, 1,000 (455 kg) and 2,000 (910 kg) pound unguided...

Iran nuclear sites may be beyond reach of "bunker busters" (Reuters) - With its nuclear program beset as never before by sanctions, sabotage and assassination, Iran must now make a new addition to its list of concerns: One of the biggest conventional bombs ever built. Boeing's 30,000-pound Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP), an ultra-large bunker buster for use on underground targets, with Iran routinely mentioned as its most likely intended destination, is a key element in the implicit U.S. threat to use force as a last report against Iran's nuclear ambitions. The behemoth, carrying more than 5,300 pounds of explosive, was...

The U.S. Air Force has taken delivery of a new 30,000-pound bomb from Boeing Co. that's capable of penetrating deeply buried enemy targets. The huge bunker buster, dubbed the Massive Ordnance Penetrator, is built to fit the B-2 stealth bomber. The Air Force Global Strike Command started receiving the bombs in September, Air Force spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Jack Miller said in a short statement to Bloomberg News. The deliveries "will meet requirements for the current operational need," he said. The Air Force in 2009 said Boeing might build as many as 16 of the munitions. Miller yesterday had no details...

'Obama sold special bombs to Israel' New report claims US secretly approved transfer of 'bunker buster' bombs that could be used in attack against Iran just months after Barack Obama took office, even though Bush administration had previously blocked deal Ynet Published: 09.23.11, 11:25 / Israel News The upcoming issue of Newsweek, which is set to hit newsstands on Monday, claims that two years ago US President Barack Obama secretly approved the transfer of 55 "bunker-busters", a form of deep-penetrating bombs, to Israel. The country had been requesting the bombs since the time of the Bush administration, the Daily Beast...

WASHINGTON (AFP) – Israel has "eight days" to launch a military strike against Iran's Bushehr nuclear facility and stop Tehran from acquiring a functioning atomic plant, a former US envoy to the UN has said. Iran is to bring online its first nuclear power reactor, built with Russia's help, on August 21, when a shipment of nuclear fuel will be loaded into the plant's core. At that point, John Bolton warned Monday, it will be too late for Israel to launch a military strike against the facility because any attack would spread radiation and affect Iranian civilians.

<p>WASHINGTON — Ten Russian intelligence officers have been arrested for allegedly serving as illegal agents of the Russian government in the United States, the Justice Department announced Monday.</p>

The Sunday Herald can reveal that the US government signed a contract in January to transport 10 ammunition containers to the island. According to a cargo manifest from the US navy, this included 387 “Blu” bombs used for blasting hardened or underground structures. Experts say that they are being put in place for an assault on Iran’s controversial nuclear facilities. There has long been speculation that the US military is preparing for such an attack, should diplomacy fail to persuade Iran not to make nuclear weapons. Although Diego Garcia is part of the British Indian Ocean Territory, it is used...

The Pentagon has acknowledged that it is speeding up plans to deploy a massive bomb capable of knocking out deeply buried enemy facilities. The giant "bunker buster" is believed to add fighting power to the U.S. arsenal against Iran's nuclear program, defense experts argue. U.S. officials, however, have refused to confirm the connection. The 30,000-pound massive ordnance penetrator is capable of penetrating up to 60 meters of earth, or a thick layer of concrete, before exploding. It weighs more than 13 metric tons, allowing just one such bunker buster to be carried by U.S. bomber aircraft. "It is under development...

Security: After Iran admits building a second enrichment facility inside a mountain, the Pentagon shifts money from other programs to urgently fund the mother of all bunker-buster bombs. Why the need for speed? At the G-20 Summit in Pittsburgh last month, President Obama announced, "The Islamic Republic of Iran has been building a covert uranium enrichment facility near Qom for several years." U.S. officials said they knew for some time that the facility existed. The announcement was made after U.S. officials learned Iran had told the International Atomic Energy Agency of Qom's existence. Our knowledge of the facility built in...

WASHINGTON, Oct. 8, 2009 – The Defense Department is developing an advanced “bunker-buster” bomb that should be ready for deployment this summer, senior Pentagon officials said. The department has been “working on technology that allows us to get at deeply buried, hardened targets” since 2004, Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman told reporters here today. Development of the bomb has taken longer than originally envisioned because of variables in the budget process, Whitman said, adding that it is now back “on track.” Pentagon Press Secretary Geoff Morrell yesterday told reporters that the department is developing a massive penetrator bomb designed to pulverize...

Security: After Iran admits building a second enrichment facility inside a mountain, the Pentagon shifts money from other programs to urgently fund the mother of all bunker-buster bombs. Why the need for speed? At the G-20 Summit in Pittsburgh last month, President Obama announced, "The Islamic Republic of Iran has been building a covert uranium enrichment facility near Qom for several years." U.S. officials said they knew for some time that the facility existed. The announcement was made after U.S. officials learned Iran had told the International Atomic Energy Agency of Qom's existence. Our knowledge of the facility built in...

The Pentagon is trying to speed up the deployment of an ultra-large bunker-busting bomb, which would constitute the largest non-nuclear bomb the U.S. has ever used. The Massive Ordnance Penetrator, or MOP, is a 30,000-pound bomb that would dive deeper than any previous bomb, and could be strapped to B-2 or B-52 bombers by July of 2010. The MOP is 20 feet long and can penetrate bunkers up to 200 feet before exploding. At 15 tons, the MOP is a third heavier than the previous "mother of all bombs", the GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast bomb, which was only 10.5...

Amid continuing tension over political upheaval in Iran, the U.S. Defense Department says it wants to accelerate production of a 30,000-pound "ultra-large bunker-buster" bomb designed to destroy deeply buried installations. The Pentagon has requested Congress to provide the necessary funding to ensure that the Massive Ordnance Penetrator, a next-generation bomb known as MOP and built by Boeing, would be ready by July 2010, spokesman Bryan Whitman said on Aug. 3. The non-nuclear weapon will be the biggest conventional bomb the United States has ever deployed. It carries 5,300 pounds of high explosive inside a 25.5-foot bomb casing of hardened steel...

Defense: As the failure of engagement with Iran grows more apparent, the administration that has talked very softly may be getting the mother of all sticks ready. Guess we need high-tech Cold War weapons after all.Western intelligence sources have told London's Times that Iran has perfected the means to develop and detonate a nuclear bomb and is merely awaiting word from its supreme leader to produce its first one. Should the order be given, it would take just six months to enrich enough uranium and another six months to assemble the warhead. Time's up. Recently, and perhaps not coincidentally, Defense...

The U.S. is retrofitting its B-2 Stealth bombers with massive bunker-buster bombs -- a move that could be a prelude to an attack on Iran and its nuclear facilities. Iran has refused to comply with international demands that it stop its nuclear weapons programs. Experts have noted that a U.S. or Israeli strike on Iran's nuclear program could be difficult due to the large number of installations -- some of which are buried deep underground in hardened bunkers. In a recent NewsMax Magazine, Kenneth R. Timmerman's report "The Coming War with Iran: 6 Days of Hell" predicted the U.S. would...

The Israel Air Force used a new bunker-buster missile that it received recently from the United States in strikes against Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip on Saturday. The GPS-guided GBU-39 is said to be one of the most accurate bombs in the world.

Despite reservations in Washington regarding a possible Israeli strike on Iran, the American administration will supply Israel with sophisticated weapons for heavily fortified targets, the U.S. administration announced. The U.S. Department of Defense announced it would sell the Israel Air Force 1,000 new smart bombs, rumored to significantly enhance the IAF's military capabilities. The deal was approved amid public and secret messages from Washington, with the Americans expressing their reservations about a possible Israeli strike against the Islamic Republic's suspected nuclear sites. The Pentagon's announcement, which came on Friday, said the U.S. will provide Israel with 1,000 units of Guided...

There are three ways to deal with Iranian nukes: (1) new rounds of pointless UN sanctions like the one we got today; (2) a sturdy wallop of Hope and Change, to inspire them into submission; or (3) the last resort. Further to the third, enjoy Danger Room’s update to this item from last April about Tehran manufacturing concrete so super-reinforced that bunkers built with it might be impenetrable to all conventional ordnance, and maybe some not so convention too. The more immovable the object is, the more irresistible the force must be. Enter the BROACH. VIDEO

The TimesOctober 26, 2007 Now what would a huge US bomb be aimed at? Gerard Baker Nestled deep in George Bush’s latest $190 billion request to Congress for emergency funding for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan is a tantalising little item that has received scant attention. The US Department of Defence has asked for an additional $88 million to modify B2 stealth bombers so that they can carry a 30,000lb bomb called the massive ordnance penetrator (or MOP, in the disarming acronymic vernacular of the military). The MOP is an advanced form of a “bunker buster”, an air-delivered weapon...

Global Security: The Air Force is busy modifying its B-2 stealth bomber fleet so it can carry deep-penetrating bunker-buster bombs, according to recent reports. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, call your office. The Massive Ordnance Penetrator, known as the bunker buster, is a GPS-guided weapon that carries more than 5,300 pounds of conventional explosives inside a 20.5-foot hardened steel shell. Sounds formidable. It is. The Boeing-made bombs, which weigh 30,000 pounds each, are built to bore through dirt, rock and reinforced concrete at supersonic speeds to reach their targets: deep bunkers and tunnels. Once the steel has pierced the outer layers of the...

U.S. Outfitting B-2's with Monster Bunker Buster Bombs - Iran May Be Target NewsMax.com Wires Friday, July 27, 2007 The U.S. is retrofitting its B-2 Stealth bombers with massive bunker-buster bombs - a move that could be a prelude to an attack on Iran and its nuclear facilities. Iran has refused to comply with international demands that it stop its nuclear weapons programs. Experts have noted that a U.S. or Israeli strike on Iran's nuclear program could be difficult due to the large number of installations - some of which are buried deep underground in hardened bunkers.

Boeing's Phantom Works is leading the effort to demonstrate the Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP). The three-phase technology demonstration builds on design studies that Boeing had conducted for the laboratory. Flight testing is envisaged around 2006. The 6 m [20 feet] long MOP features short-span wings and trellis-type tails. The 13,600 kg [30,000 lb] weapon contains a 2,700 kg [6,000 lb] explosive charge. MOP is designed to go deeper than any nuclear bunker buster and take out 25 percent of the underground and deeply buried targets. It is expected to penetrate as much as 60 meters [200 feet] through 5,000 psi...

Nevada activists pressure governor to fight bomb-test plan By Martin Griffith The Associated Press Article Last Updated: 02/04/2007 01:00:27 AM MST RENO, Nev. - A group of Nevada activists is pressing Gov. Jim Gibbons to request an environmental impact statement and public hearings on the federal government's plans for a 700-ton explosion on the Nevada desert. More than two dozen activists marched a mile Saturday in Carson City from the Legislative Building to the Governor's Mansion, where they held a news conference to express concerns over the planned non-nuclear blast at the Nevada Test Site. The event was sponsored by...

IAF fighter jets dropped over 20 tons in bombs late Wednesday night on a Hizbullah bunker, possibly the hiding place of the group's leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, in the Bourj al-Barajneh refugee camp in southeast Beirut. It was still unclear who was in the bunker at the time and what their fate was, but IDF sources said the bunker was totally destroyed and that all that was left was a crater. The IDF obtained intelligence information late Wednesday night that Hizbullah leaders possibly including Nasrallah had taken refuge inside the bunker. A wave of aircraft immediately took to the air...

Hezbollah ensures: no the victim in the bombardment of Bourj Barajneh BEIRUT - Hezbollah Lebanese Shiite affirmed that "aucun leader or member" of this party had not been killed in the bombardment, carried out in the night of Wednesday to Thursday by Israeli aviation, against what Israel described as "bunker" with Bourj Barajneh, in the southern suburbs of Beirut. "Hezbollah lunatic that one of its persons in charge or its members was killed in the bombardment of a building of Bourj Barajneh, in the southern suburbs, what the enemy army claimed to be a bunker where was certain numbers...

Just saw on CNN that 23 tons of explosives were dropped on a Hezbollah bunker. Top Hezbollah officials are believed to have been inside. No story on the website yet.

DEBKAfile reports: Bush is expected to offer the mighty BIG-BLU bunker buster bomb to Israel and Gulf states, including Saudi Arabia May 22, 2006, 9:11 PM (GMT+02:00) The intention is to arm US allies with a deterrent against Iran by sharing with them the means for striking the Islamic Republic’s underground nuclear installations. This Massive Ordnance Penetrator – MOP – known as BIG-BLU (picture) - weighs in at 13,600 kilos and can destroy 25% of its targets in bunkers buried beneath 60 meters of reinforced concrete, a depth greater than any other bomb of its type. DEBKAfile’s military sources note...

The Pentagon is updating its options for attacking Iran to set back Tehran's nuclear program, but there is no immediacy to the planning as the Bush administration stays committed to a diplomatic track for now. Administration officials and Pentagon advisers say they do not think Gen. John Abizaid, chief of U.S. Central Command, which would lead an attack, has presented formal military options to Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld. "They don't want anything like that to leak. It would upset Europe," a Pentagon adviser said. "The generals in the building won't talk about Iran. The message is diplomacy." A second...

Explosives Expert Anh Duong, 46, Laurel By Robin Tierney Special to The Washington Post Sunday, April 30, 2006; Page M03 Explosives expert Anh Duong led the team that, in just 67 days, developed the first U.S. thermobaric bomb -- a device that detonates a cloud of chemicals and creates shock waves that destroy everything in its range. Called the "bunker buster," the weapon was designed to destroy enemy cave and tunnel command posts in the post-Sept. 11 Afghanistan war. Now, as a science advisor at the Pentagon, she devises anti-terrorism technologies. Duong, who at age 15 fled Vietnam with her...

ONE of the largest explosive tests since the end of the Cold War is planned for June, when the Pentagon will detonate a gigantic, 635-tonne conventional bomb in the Nevada desert as part of its research into developing weapons that can destroy deeply buried military targets The test, code-named Divine Strake, will occur on June 2 about 145 kilometres north-west of Las Vegas in a high desert valley bounded by mountains. "This is the largest single explosive we could imagine doing," said James Tegnelia, director of the Pentagon's Defence Threat Reduction Agency, which is conducting the test. It will generate...

<p>Albert L. Weimorts Jr., 67, a civilian engineer for the Air Force who designed powerful bombs for targets in Iraq, died Wednesday of brain cancer at his home in Ft. Walton Beach, Fla.</p> <p>Weimorts was honored by the Air Force Research Laboratory at his retirement in 2003 for his role in developing two particular bombs. One was the 5,000-pound GBU-28 "Bunker Buster," created and deployed in a record-setting 28 days to target fortified bunkers during the first Gulf War.</p>

<p>ERUSALEM - Israeli jets attacked a Palestinian militant group's training base in southern Lebanon early Wednesday, hours after an Israeli border town was hit by rocket fire, the military said.</p> <p>The base located south of Beirut is operated by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a small group that has been waging a decades long fight against the Jewish state.</p>

Dec 25, 10:13 PM EST 'Mother of All Bombs' Designer Dies at 67 By DENISE KALETTE Associated Press Writer MIAMI (AP) -- Albert L. Weimorts Jr., a civilian engineer for the Air Force whose designs included a satellite-guided weapon known as the "mother of all bombs," has died, his son said. He was 67. Weimorts died Wednesday of brain cancer at home in Fort Walton Beach, his son Todd said Sunday. The Air Force Research Laboratory honored Weimorts after he retired in 2003 for his role in developing two powerful bombs as chief engineer for the lab's Munitions Directorate at...

WASHINGTON — The Bush administration has abandoned research into a nuclear "bunker-buster" warhead, deciding instead to pursue a similar device using conventional weaponry, a key Republican senator said Tuesday. Sen. Pete Domenici (search), R-N.M., said funding for the nuclear bunker-buster as part of the Energy Department's (search) fiscal 2006 budget has been dropped at the department's request. The nuclear bunker-buster had been the focus of intense debate in Congress, with opponents arguing that its development as a tactical nuclear weapon could add to nuclear proliferation. An administration official, speaking on condition on anonymity because negotiations on the department's spending bill...

WASHINGTON - The Bush administration has abandoned research into a nuclear "bunker-buster" warhead, deciding instead to pursue a similar device using conventional weaponry, a key Republican senator said Tuesday. Sen. Pete Domenici (news, bio, voting record), R-N.M., said funding for the nuclear bunker-buster as part of the Energy Department's fiscal 2006 budget has been dropped at the request of the Energy Department. The nuclear bunker-buster had been the focus of intense debate in Congress, with opponents arguing that its development as a tactical nuclear weapon could add to nuclear proliferation. Administration officials have contended the country must try to develop...

ORLANDO, Fla., Aug. 18 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT - News) demonstrated a key technology milestone for the integration of a boosted penetrator warhead with a long-range cruise missile that can be used against hard and deeply buried targets. ADVERTISEMENT In the test, held at the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, in Socorro, NM, the penetrator was expelled from a missile body using a small discharge pressurization device. "This is a unique method of attacking hard and deeply buried targets," said Jim Pappafotis, director of Advanced Programs at Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control. "We made a...

A bomb to bust the deepest bunkersDESPITE the intelligence failure that led the Bush administration to believe Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, the Pentagon is pressing ahead with the development of technologies designed to destroy WMDs. Its latest idea is a bomb that can destroy deeply buried WMD storage bunkers by cutting through earth and concrete inside a bubble of air. Traditional "bunker busters" are streamlined bombs that rely on sheer weight to force their way through soil, rock or concrete. But the new design has a blunt nose that forces the earth ahead of it out to the...

DESPITE the intelligence failure that led the Bush administration to believe Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, the Pentagon is pressing ahead with the development of technologies designed to destroy WMDs. Its latest idea is a bomb that can destroy deeply buried WMD storage bunkers by cutting through earth and concrete inside a bubble of air. Traditional "bunker busters" are streamlined bombs that rely on sheer weight to force their way through soil, rock or concrete. But the new design has a blunt nose that forces the earth ahead of it out to the sides, creating a cavity the bomb...

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Senate yesterday approved $4 million in funding for the Robust Nuclear Earth Penetrator program, one of several nuclear-related measures contained in its version of the fiscal 2006 Energy and Water Appropriations bill (see GSN, June 17). Before approving the $31 billion bill with a 92-3 vote, the Republican-controlled Senate in a 53-43 vote beat back a Democratic amendment to prohibit funding for the feasibility study of the earth-penetrating nuclear weapon. The version of the bill already approved by the House denied any funding for the Robust Nuclear Earth Penetrator study. Differences in the two bills are...

Senate OKs Continued Study of Nuclear Arms By ANDREW TAYLOR, Associated Press Writer Fri Jul 1,12:47 AM ET Research into the feasibility of a bunker-busting nuclear weapon would be kept alive under legislation the Senate passed early Friday. The research was approved as part of a $31.2 billion spending bill for energy and water projects. The bill also includes funds for the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste dump, though not as much as President Bush requested. The bill passed 92-3 after a debate over whether to spend $4 million for research into the bunker buster nuclear warhead, which would be aimed...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Senate Democrats on Friday failed to stop the Energy Department from studying the feasibility of a "bunker buster" nuclear bomb the Bush administration is considering. By a vote of 53-43, the Senate refused to delete $4 million in funds to study the experimental weapon that would penetrate the earth and explode to demolish buried enemy targets. The funds were included in a bill that would fund Energy Department activities in the fiscal year starting on Oct. 1. A House of Representatives version of the bill does not contain funds to study the Robust Nuclear Earth Penetrator. "We're...

U.S. Congress resists 'bunker buster' By Nicholas Kralev THE WASHINGTON TIMES Published May 10, 2005 The Bush administration faces strong opposition in Congress to funding for research to bolster the U.S. nuclear arsenal for the second year in a row, but it may receive a limited budget for one program, administration and congressional officials say.     The proposal that met most resistance from both Democrats and Republicans is the creation of a Robust Nuclear Earth Penetrator (RNEP), the "bunker buster" that would be able to break through rock.     "The Pentagon has been interested in improving our capabilities for several years, and...

UNITED NATIONS (AP) - The plea heard from the conference floor, from nation after nation, seems simple: Since we don't have nuclear weapons, please guarantee you won't use yours on us. It's the U.S. response - no - that isn't so simple, entangled as it is in the secret plans and dark visions of nuclear strategists. Demands for a treaty enshrining such guarantees are a major issue before the U.N. conference that opened this week to review the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, the 1970 pact by which more than 180 nations renounce atomic bombs forever in exchange for a pledge by...

WASHINGTON -- A nuclear weapon that is exploded underground can destroy a deeply buried bunker efficiently and requires significantly less power to do so than a nuclear weapon detonated on the surface would, says a new report from the National Academies' National Research Council. However, such "earth-penetrating" nuclear weapons cannot go deep enough to avoid massive casualties at ground level, and they could still kill up to a million people or more if used in heavily populated areas, said the committee that wrote the report. "Using an earth-penetrating weapon to destroy a target 250 meters deep -- the typical depth...

US nuclear policy set to draw fire at treaty reviewBy Demetri Sevastopulo Published: April 27 2005 03:00 | Last updated: April 27 2005 03:00 Robert McNamara, the Vietnam-era US defence secretary and star of the Oscar-winning documentary Fog of War, recently lambasted the US for failing to fulfil its obligations under the nuclear non-proliferation treaty (NPT). Summing up his objections in the current edition of Foreign Policy magazine, he wrote: "I would characterise current US nuclear weapons policy as immoral, illegal, militarily unnecessary and dreadfully dangerous." His criticisms are likely to be resurrected at the 2005 NPT review conference in New...

WASHINGTON, April 26 (Reuters) - The Pentagon notified Congress on Tuesday of a proposed sale to Israel of 100 guided bunker-busting bombs, a move that analysts said could prompt concerns about a unilateral Israel strike against Iran. Israel has requested the sale of the Lockheed Martin Corp. GBU-28s worth as much as $30 million, the Pentagon's Defense Security Cooperation Agency said in a notice required by law for government-to-government military sales. The GBU-28 was developed for penetrating hardened command centers located deep underground and would be used by the Israeli Air Force on their U.S.-built F-15 aircraft, the agency said....