The US want to create 30,000 pounds bunker busters

[Subversive Pessimist]

U.S. Air Force seeking deep impact on hard-to-reach targets

From Barbara Starr
CNN Washington Bureau
Wednesday, July 21, 2004 Posted: 4:44 AM EDT (0844 GMT)

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- It's just an idea on paper, but the U.S. Air Force is asking defense contractors how they might develop a 30,000-pound, precision-guided bomb that could destroy targets deep underground, in caves or in hardened bunkers.

Air Force officials said the proposed weapon, called the Massive Ordnance Penetrator, would be substantially larger than the current penetrating bomb -- the GBU-28, a 5,000-pound weapon.

Military officials said the most likely use of such a weapon would be against underground targets such as those found in North Korea.

The Air Force initially considered the development of a 30,000-pound penetrating bomb before the Iraq war, but funding and technical challenges stifled movement.

After the invasion, Air Force weapons experts examined several bomb sites in Iraq and learned targets could not be fully destroyed using the current inventory of conventional weapons.

However, Air Force officials said they are uncertain whether the concept of a bigger bomb can be brought to reality or that there would be available funding.

The Air Force concept calls for the bomb to be deployed on B-2 or B-52 bombers. The weapon would be guided by use of Global Positioning System satellite coordinates.

Engineering obstacles must be overcome, according to Air Force officials.

One challenge would be the need to carry two bombs on an aircraft to keep the plane stable in flight. Both bombs probably would need to be dropped at the same time for the bomber to maintain level flight, officials said.

Air Force officials said the bomb's structure would incorporate some type of heavy alloy that would make up most of the weight, allowing it to penetrate the target. An advanced or "smart" fuse also would be part of the system, so that detonation would occur only after the bomb reached the target, they said.

The Air Force said it is prepared to spend $11 million on weapon design and demonstration, with testing possibly beginning in 2006.

This bomb concept, informally known as the "Big Blue," differs from the Massive Ordnance Air Blast, a 20,000-pound weapon packed with 18,000 pounds of explosives. The MOAB bomb is designed to explode above ground for destruction of widespread surface targets such as troops and tanks.



http://www.cnn.com/2004/US/07/20/big.bomb/index.html

Is it just me feeling very threathened by the United States? They want to make mini nukes, openly admitting they will invade or start a revolution in Iran next election, and now this...

[h&s]

Don't you think that its funny that such a deadly, feared killing machine will end up being called a mop?
Seriously though, the U$ don't give a shit about anyone else when it comes to war. They used napalm in Iraq, even though its been illegal since Vietnam, and as you say, they continue to develop mini-nukes, despite the fact that they are banned weapons of mass distruction. (Sound familiar anyone?)

[Hate Is Art]

:rolleyes:

Jeezus, It pains me to try and think is actually going on inside some of these peoples heads. They are up to their eyes in bullshit and would be unable to run a small business properly let alone a country.

I would love to give anyone of those white house wankers a good kicking, it just makes no sense at all. Peace Through War should be Bush's election slogan.

[RidiculousRhinoceros]

bout time. those 20,000 pounders just weren't doing it for me.

[Comrade Mathew]

the U.S. wont stop building bigger bombs till their weapons hit the U.S. where ever they use it... oh right nukes hit every country sorry... i mean destruction that you can see with your eyes those idiots in the white house wont react to radiation of course...

[refuse_resist]

This basically sums up what they plan on doing.

http://bushflash.com/nuke.html

[RJRevolution]

I though that Nukes were bad enough, but along comes this war-mongering conservative Hick with new mini-nukes that will impose his sick imperialistic ideas around the world at the cost of thousands of innocent civilian lives.

F*cking Bush....... :angry:

[Guerrilla22]

Another great waste of money. The US not only spends more on defense than any other country, it also spends more money on needless suff than any other country. Why the hell do they need a 30,000 bomb? What's the point? They already have more than enough aramnets to blow through to the earth's core.

[CubanFox]

Originally posted by [email protected] 22 2004, 04:23 PM
Another great waste of money. The US not only spends more on defense than any other country, it also spends more money on needless suff than any other country. Why the hell do they need a 30,000 bomb? What's the point? They already have more than enough aramnets to blow through to the earth's core.
Musn't forget that America is so far the only power to ever use nukes in wartime.

Oh, and they continue to build more, and have enough of them to destroy the world, say, 10 times?

I think that America should stop this "penis size" game with its armed forces. You don't need 30,000 pound bunkerbusters. How about getting rid of all the bunkerbusters and starting more negotiations and fewer wars?

What America needs is a good war. I mean, a war in the United States. One where all the big cities are ruined. One where hundreds of thousands of Americans die. It all reminds me of an insightful comment by a woman who survived 9/11:

It was something to the effect of "Now I know how the people in all those countries we bomb feel."

Maybe then Americans won't rush to bomb little countries into the stone age in such a hurry.

And conservatives call Europeans cowards for not wanting war left right and centre. Pathetic.

[Comrade Mathew]

yeah... the U.S. was so schocked by the 9/11 attacks.... but if that had happend in one of the many european wars no one would give a fuck..... strange how the same things can matter differently depending on who is hit...