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The GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast, also known as the "Mother of All Bombs", has been dropped in Nangarhar Province, Afghanistan. It is the most powerful non-nuclear bomb in the U.S. arsenal.
The US military has dropped an enormous bomb in Afghanistan, according to four US military officials with direct knowledge of the mission. A GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast Bomb, nicknamed MOAB, was dropped at 7 p.m. local time Thursday, the sources said. [...] A MOAB is a 21,600-pound, GPS-guided munition that is America's most powerful non-nuclear bomb.
The bomb was dropped by an MC-130 aircraft, operated by Air Force Special Operations Command, according to the military sources. They said the target was an ISIS tunnel and cave complex as well as personnel in the Achin district of the Nangarhar province.
Gen. John Nicholson, Commander of U.S. Forces in Afghanistan, said in a statement. "This is the right munition to reduce these obstacles and maintain the momentum of our offensive against [ISIS]." The statement said U.S. forces took every precaution to avoid civilian casualties.
Also at Fox News. The bombing came days after the death of a Green Beret in the same province, but a defense official said the bombing was unrelated. Another official had this to say:
The MOAB had to be dropped out of the back of a U.S. Air Force C-130 cargo plane due to its massive size. "We kicked it out the back door," one U.S. official told Fox News.
Update: The Afghan defence ministry says that 36 ISIS fighters were killed by the strike.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Runaway1956 on Friday April 14 2017, @02:23PM (7 children)
I was making a delivery to an Army base. Went through the silly procedure at the gate, my cigarettes and lighter were confiscated, my camera was confiscated, and I was given a map, and strict instructions not to deviate from the specified route given to me. So, I get back in the truck, pull out of the gate area, go around the curve, and down the hill. The main entry road deadends at a "T", and right in front of me, on the grass, is this quite large liquid natural gas tank. The thing stands about 9 or 10 feet high, and it's pretty long - maybe 40 feet. Just a big ass gas tank, sitting in the grass. Then, I notice that there are no pipes coming to or from the tank. I'm driving, so I can't study this thing, I've gotta get moving before some grunt comes and orders me to move, right? Maybe I can look closer on the way out - stupid sign off to the right, in the grass, says, simply, "MOAB". I think to myself, "Self, WTF is MOAB?" Then it clicks - WHOA - THE MOTHER OF ALL BOMBS!
I stop, right there, in the middle of my right hand turn, swing my head left, and right, up and down. Hmmmm. Big bastard. No wonder that LNG tank doesn't have any plumbing!
I looked it up on the internet when I got home. It turns out, I was looking at the very first, original prototype. The real thing has some differences in dimensions, the fins are different, the payload is supposed to be slightly higher. But, HOLY SHIT, that was a monster bomb!!
Alright - irrelevant anecdotal nonsense out of the way - - -
WTF did they accomplish? This big bastard is a fuel-air bomb. They used it on a cave and tunnel complex. FFS, unless the managed to guide the damned bomb inside of a cave or tunnel entrance, THIS WAS THE WRONG TOOL FOR THE JOB!!
The real story looks like the Pentagon finally got to make their newest toy go BANG, and they got great video of it. Just some expensive gun porn, basically.
They would have got more bang for the buck had they dropped a couple dozen penetrators to collapse tunnels. They'd have got even more bang for the buck, had the carried an LNG tank to the tunnel entrances, vented the gas down into the tunnels, THEN lit it off. THAT would have been a truly awesome explosion.
Abortion is the number one killed of children in the United States.
(Score: 2) by Whoever on Friday April 14 2017, @02:57PM (1 child)
The Brits developed and use a 22,000 pound bunker-buster bomb ("Bomb, Medium Capacity, 22,000 lb") towards the end of WWII. It was very effective against hardened and underground targets.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Slam_%28bomb%29 [wikipedia.org]
(Score: 2) by fnj on Friday April 14 2017, @07:19PM
The British 22,000 lb Grand Slam, unlike the MOAB, was a very high velocity thick-case (one-piece armor steel casting) ground penetrator filled with proper high explosive (torpex). Similar to other armor-piercing bombs and artillery shells, less than 50% of its total weight was the explosive filling. It was capable of burrowing dozens of feet under ground before detonating. It created a large cavern into which the target structures collapsed. It was also useful for penetrating very thick reinforced concrete bunkers. The US copied the Grand Slam, calling it the M-110 (T-14).
A total of 42 Grand Slams were dropped, all in 1945.
The MOAB is nothing but a great big thin-skin vessel. Most of the weight is in the H6 explosive filling, which is high explosive mixed with aluminum and wax. It can't penetrate anything. All it does is make a loud noise and a bright flash on the surface or immediately overhead. It's no good at all for collapsing caves.
After WWII, the US developed the T-12 Cloudmaker, which was a 42,000 lb "bigger better grand slam".
(Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Friday April 14 2017, @03:46PM
The route leading up to the main entrance of the cavern complex was mined. The MOAB was used both in an attempt to kill people inside the complex, but also and more importantly to detonate all those mines, so future breach attempts could succeed without risks of attempting mine cleaning under conditions that could allow an enemy ambush.
Having said that, it does seem more about stagecraft than combat efficiency.
(Score: 2) by tangomargarine on Friday April 14 2017, @05:00PM
WTF did they accomplish? This big bastard is a fuel-air bomb. They used it on a cave and tunnel complex. FFS, unless the managed to guide the damned bomb inside of a cave or tunnel entrance, THIS WAS THE WRONG TOOL FOR THE JOB!!
The Wikipedia article doesn't say anything about MOAB being a thermobaric weapon. There is, however, this line:
In 2007, Russia tested a thermobaric weapon nicknamed the "Father of All Bombs"; the weapon is claimed to be four times as powerful as the MOAB.[5]
"Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Friday April 14 2017, @05:37PM
> THIS WAS THE WRONG TOOL FOR THE JOB!!
The president being an idiot, and wanting to send a message, doesn't mean that the rest of .mil is incompetent and will endanger their soldiers (which is bad propaganda).
They wouldn't have used it if it was useless, dear armchair specialist vet.
As I pointed out above, this kind of weapon turns tunnels into a deathtraps. If you survive the shock, burn and collapses, you'd better have an oxygen tank handy. It might allow you to survive until the infantry gets to you across the devastated landscape where all your defense points have been razed.
(Score: 2) by kaszz on Friday April 14 2017, @05:45PM
One guess is that the peak pressure of the bomb makes the difference. This is also perhaps why many smaller bombs won't work. Unless they can be synchronized.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday April 14 2017, @11:11PM
Looked up what it does. http://www.nationalreview.com/article/206160/enter-moab-mackubin-thomas-owens [nationalreview.com]
It's not an air/fuel bomb. The "A" helps the acronym out, and I guess distinguishes it from a deep penetrator bomb. But its blast would collapse the tunnels and set off the mines in the minefields, and I gather from news reports that all the ISIS soldiers in the tunnels died, so it seems like it was in fact an appropriate tool for the job.