Washington
CNN
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As President Donald Trump warms the idea of using US military assets to attack Iran’s nuclear facilities, authorities and experts have suggested that the US 30,000 pound “bunkerbuster” bomb is the only weapon capable of destroying the Fordow fuel enrichment plant.
According to a US Air Force fact sheet, the GBU-57A/B Massive Ordnance Perentrator (MOP) is designed to reach and destroy enemy weapons of mass destruction that are still in protected facilities.
The weapon is a 30,000-pound bomb with 6,000 pounds of “high explosives,” says Masao Dahlgren, a fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Research Missile Defense Projects.
“Really thick and hard shells” explained to allow the explosives to withstand the effects of the ground and penetrate the depths they are intended to reach.
“There’s a shell and there’s an explosive in the fuse. The explosiveness needs to be robust enough to not explode without fusion. The shell should be strong enough to get off there, smack it hard and give it enough energy to go down far. “It’s a really complicated program.”
The exact size of the Fordow fuel enrichment plant is unknown. CNN reports that the hall is estimated to be between 80 and 90 meters underground. The Royal United Services Institute, a UK-based think tank, said the MOP may not even be able to reach Foldow, saying in a recent report that “it will require multiple impacts at the same target point because it is likely to break into the facility.”
The Fordow could be on the “end” of the MOP’s ability, and only one ammunition, Dahlgren said.
Bomb testing began in 2004 amid growing concerns about weapons of mass destruction, Dahlgren said. He added that one of the factors that led to its development was a study that showed it bombing the entrance to the facility.
“Part of the need for these intruders is because it’s difficult to actually bomb the entrance and get away,” Dahlgren said. “We can temporarily slow the progress of the program, but we can’t completely destroy things like that.”
In 2009, Boeing won a contract to integrate its weapons system with US aircraft. The Air Force B-2 Spirit – a multi-roll heavy bomber – is the only aircraft that can surgically employ bombs.
The B-2, created by Northrop Grumman, is the “backbone of stealth technology,” according to the company. The aircraft ran out of Whiteman Air Force Base, Missouri, and was first opened in November 1988. The US used B-2 bombers to attack Yemen’s Iran-backed Houtsis, targeting underground weapons storage facilities.
According to the Air Force, the bombers were flew by two pilot crews – capable of flying around 6,000 nautical miles without being refueled. Its “stealth” capabilities “infiltrate the enemy’s most sophisticated defenses and threaten its most valuable and significantly protected targets,” the Air Force said.
It is unclear how much ammunition the US has in its inventory. In 2009, Boeing delivered 20 of them to the Air Force. This was the current situation in 2015. Dahlgren estimated that the US Arsenal had around 30 ammunition.