B-2 30,000 lb.bunker buster ready for Iran strike
Telegraph:
Michael Donley, the US Air Force Secretary, said that the bomb "if it need to go today", would be available."We continue to do testing on the bomb to refine its capabilities, and that is ongoing," he said "We also have the capability to go with existing configuration today."The endorsement of the Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP) – the world's largest conventional bomb – comes after concerns were raised that the weapon still needed refining if was to be effective against Iran's deepest installations.Last February Congress agreed to an "urgent" Pentagon request to divert $81.6m (£52m) into improvements for the 14-ton MOP.The 20ft long, 1ft wide weapon will be delivered by the B2 stealth bomber, is the critical piece of military hardware that underwrites American assurances to Israel that it will neutralise Iran's nuclear facilities if diplomacy and sanctions fail.Last month talks in Moscow between Iran and six world powers ended in deadlock, raising the risk of a pre-emptive Israeli strike. A follow-up meeting in Istanbul this week also ended without apparent progress.Barack Obama has repeatedly reassured Israel that the US "has your back", but it remains unclear if Israel is prepared to wait to the point where Iran's facilities are placed beyond the reach of its own GBU-28 bunker-busters which weigh just 5,000lbs.Iran's facilities at Natanz, in the centre of the country, which are buried under 33ft feet of earth and 6ft of concrete and at Fordo, near the holy city of Qom, which are buried in a mountainside, would be the hardest to hit, according to military analysts.
...Probably the more critical ordinance will be that used to suppress Iran's reaction to a strike. I expect to see cruise missiles and air strikes on launch facilities within Iran as well as on naval assets that would be involved in attempts to shut the strait of Hormuz and attack US ships. But while we are at it we probably will drop bombs on Iran's nukes if they survive an Israeli attack.
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