President Trump’s Nationwide Safety Council might be offering him with a variety of choices for a possible strike on Iran’s Fordo nuclear facility — if he chooses to go for army motion. However the web site is a troublesome and hardened goal, constructed deep underneath a mountain.
If Trump chooses to take a shot at this facility, he’ll possible have to depend on one among America’s rarest weapons — the so-called “bunker buster.”
There are literally a couple of weapons that may be described as such, however Fordo would require the largest one: the GBU-57 Huge Ordnance Penetrator, which may solely be dropped by a B-52 or B-2 bomber.
Associated to the GBU-43 Huge Ordnance Air Blast bomb, typically often known as the “mom of all bombs,” the MOP weighs about 30,000 kilos and is greater than 20 toes lengthy.
Precision-guided and purpose-built for putting at heavily-fortified targets buried deep underground, it has solely been within the U.S. arsenal for a bit greater than a decade.
The precise capabilities of the MOP are a state secret, however consultants consider it will probably penetrate no less than 200 toes beneath the floor earlier than it detonates. Furthermore, MOPs may be stacked — so to talk — to successfully drill all the way down to a goal situated deeper than 200 toes.
Fordo is situated at an estimated 260 toes beneath the floor, which means two MOPs would possible be required.
On condition that solely America’s largest strategic bomber plane can ship such a large weapon to its goal, use of the MOP isn’t with out threat.
U.S. bombers would require clear skies, making air superiority essential. Trump after all has claimed management of the sky over Tehran, and Israel has been putting air defenses. The trail might already be clear.
