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Oct 8, 2009
'Bunker buster' ready soon <!--10 min-->
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WASHINGTON - THE Pentagon said on Wednesday a giant 'bunker buster' bomb will be ready within months, adding a powerful weapon to the US arsenal amid tensions over Iran's nuclear programme. The 30,000-pound (13,607kg) massive ordnance penetrator (MOP) is designed to knock out fortified sites buried deep underground, like those used by Iran and North Korea to protect its nuclear work. 'It is under development right now and should be deployable in the coming months,' press secretary Geoff Morrell told reporters. The Defence Department had said in August it wanted to speed up production plans for the super bomb, asking Congress to shift funds to the project. Congress approved the request and the Pentagon announced on Friday it awarded McDonnell Douglas Corporation a US$51.9 million (S$73.7 million) contract to enable B-2 aircraft to carry the enormous MOP.
The bomb, which holds 5,300 pounds of explosives, is designed 'to defeat hardened facilities used by hostile states to protect weapons of mass destruction,' Mr Morrell said. But he declined to comment whether the weapon's development was in response to Iran's disputed nuclear programme. 'I don't think anybody can divine potential targets or anything of that nature. This is just a capability that we think is necessary given the world we live in these days,' he said. 'The reality is that the world we live in is one in which there are people who seek to build weapons of mass destruction and they seek to do so in a clandestine fashion.' -- AFP
Oct 8, 2009
'Bunker buster' ready soon <!--10 min-->
<!-- headline one : start --> <!-- headline one : end -->
WASHINGTON - THE Pentagon said on Wednesday a giant 'bunker buster' bomb will be ready within months, adding a powerful weapon to the US arsenal amid tensions over Iran's nuclear programme. The 30,000-pound (13,607kg) massive ordnance penetrator (MOP) is designed to knock out fortified sites buried deep underground, like those used by Iran and North Korea to protect its nuclear work. 'It is under development right now and should be deployable in the coming months,' press secretary Geoff Morrell told reporters. The Defence Department had said in August it wanted to speed up production plans for the super bomb, asking Congress to shift funds to the project. Congress approved the request and the Pentagon announced on Friday it awarded McDonnell Douglas Corporation a US$51.9 million (S$73.7 million) contract to enable B-2 aircraft to carry the enormous MOP.
The bomb, which holds 5,300 pounds of explosives, is designed 'to defeat hardened facilities used by hostile states to protect weapons of mass destruction,' Mr Morrell said. But he declined to comment whether the weapon's development was in response to Iran's disputed nuclear programme. 'I don't think anybody can divine potential targets or anything of that nature. This is just a capability that we think is necessary given the world we live in these days,' he said. 'The reality is that the world we live in is one in which there are people who seek to build weapons of mass destruction and they seek to do so in a clandestine fashion.' -- AFP
