B2- More Firepower

B2 in flight, and a new beastie on the ground? Looks like it came from the thunderbirds.

US flags B2 stealth bomber MOP upgrade
October 27, 2007 01:00am

NESTLED deep in George W.Bush's latest $US190 billion ($210 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 $US88 million to modify B2 stealth bombers so they can carry a 13,600kg 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 with an explosive capacity to destroy targets deep underground. Explaining the request, the administration says it is in response to an "urgent operational need from theatre commanders". What kind of emergency could that be?

HD image

It's possible that the US Air Force wants more firepower in the hunt for Osama bin Laden and al-Qa'eda as they skulk in their caves in Afghanistan. But that wouldn't require stealth bombers - the sleek, black-skinned, radar-dodging darts of the US military.

The Americans own the skies over Afghanistan and Iraq and could, if they wished, blanket the two countries with all manner of bombardment from low altitude in broad daylight.

So what lies somewhere between Iraq and Afghanistan that might demand the urgent deployment of a stealth aircraft that can quietly drop a 13,600kg bomb and destroy something several storeys below ground?

The secret wine cellars in Tehran that house the illicit stash of vintage clarets belonging to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad? The vast collection of grey polyester suits and Iranian goody bags that lie in wait for the next batch of luckless British sailors?

Pat yourself on the back if you correctly identified the subterranean nuclear enrichment facilities operated by the Iranian Government in its pursuit of an epoch-altering bomb.

The debate in Washington about what to do with the increasingly recalcitrant and self-confident Iranian regime has taken a significant turn in the past few weeks. And the decision to upgrade the bombing capacity of the US military is perhaps the most powerful indication yet that the debate is reaching a climax.

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,22654902-401,00.html

http://www.answers.com/topic/massive-ordnance-penetrator?cat=technology

External links
Massive Ordnance Penetrator Fact Sheet - dtra.mil
First Massive Ordnance Penetrator Explosive Test Successful - dtra.mil
Boeing-Developed Massive Ordnance Penetrator Successfully Completes Static Lethality Test - Boeing
'Bunker busters' may grow to 30,000 pounds - CNN
Massive bomb to MOP up deeply buried targets - Jane's Defence Weekly
A different kind of smart: weapons becoming autonomous and precise - Jane's
Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP) - Global Security