Will The U.S. 'Bunker Buster' Bomb Make A Difference In To Stopping Iran's Nuclear Bomb Program?

US Tests Iran “Bunker Buster” Bomb…So What? -- Zachary Keck, The Diplomat

The U.S. tested its new Iran “bunker buster” bomb for the first time last year, Israeli media reported this week, citing officials who were briefed by their American counterparts on the test.

According to media reports, last year the U.S. conducted the first test of its newly minted GBU-57B massive ordnance penetrator against a nuclear facility replica. The Jerusalem Post reported that the replica “cost millions of dollars to build, was made of concrete and buried under dozens of feet of dirt and rocks.” The MOP successful destroyed the nuclear facility.

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My Comment: As a weapon .... the GBU-57 is probably very effective. But Iran's nuclear program is a problem that needs a diplomatic/political solution .... not a military one. Unfortunately .... the Iranians are not interested in a diplomatic and political solution, and the international community is not interested in applying the necessary sanctions against them. Hence .... we are at a stalemate while Iran continues with it's nuclear program.

The Massive Ordnance Penetrator - GBU-57 (Video)

From YouTube: http://AviationExplorer.com - The Massive Ordnance Penetrator (the Air Force has ordered 20 from Boeing) is nearly five tons heavier than any other bomb in the military's arsenal and is made to pulverize underground targets.

Boeing Co. has delivered the first of the 30,000-pound bombs, each nearly five tons heavier than anything else in the military's arsenal, to the U.S. Air Force to pulverize underground enemy hide-outs.

At a total cost of about $314 million, the military has developed and ordered 20 of the GPS-guided bombs, called Massive Ordnance Penetrators. They are designed to be dropped on targets by the Boeing-made B-52 Stratofortress long-range bomber or Northrop Grumman Corp.'s B-2 stealth bomber.

Packed with more than 5,300 pounds of explosives and more than 20 feet long, the giant bunker-busting bombs were tested at White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico, the site of the first atomic bomb test during World War II.

The weapon's explosive power is 10 times greater than its bunker-buster predecessor, the BLU-109. And it is nearly five tons heavier than the 22,600-pound GBU-43 MOAB surface bomb, sometimes called the "mother of all bombs."

The Massive Ordnance Penetrator is a weapon system designed to accomplish a difficult, complicated mission of reaching and destroying our adversaries' weapons of mass destruction located in well-protected facilities.

The Air Force and the Defense Threat Reduction Agency conducted tests at White Sands, and Boeing delivered the first Massive Ordnance Penetrator this fall. Additional deliveries are expected to be completed by 2013.

America's 30,000-Pound Bunker-Buster Bomb Is Ready

Chicago based Boeing manufactures the MOP shown here for scale. Boeing

The Pentagon's New 30,000-lb MOP Bomb Is Ready To Go -- Business Insider

Senior Pentagon officials told Congress the nation's largest conventional bomb, the Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP), is ready for action.

The Air Force said as much back in June after rushing the MOP back to Boeing for $82 million in modifications and enhancements, but this report puts it on the books as deployable ordnance.

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Update: Boeing’s 30,000-Pound Bunker-Buster Improved, U.S. Says -- Bloomberg Businessweek

My Comment: That's one big bomb.

Bombs vs Bunkers

A B-52 releases a MOP during a weapons test.
U.S. Department of Defense

Bombs vs Bunkers In A Potential Iran Attack -- Popular Mechanics

The possibility of an Iran attack highlights the latest arms race: The United States trying to build new bunker-busting weapons while Iran buries its nuclear labs deep underground to try to avoid possible U.S. (or Israeli) bombs.

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.

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My Comment: The last sentence of this article is what caught my eye ....

.... Bombing those facilities would have huge consequences for the surrounding area, Cirincione argues. "We have never experienced such bombings in history," he says. "Up until now, they have been considered beyond the pale."

Indeed .... I guess the times are-a-changing.