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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsUS bunker-buster 'not powerful enough' against Iran
The US military has concluded that its largest conventional bomb is not capable of destroying Iran's most heavily fortified underground facilities suspected to be used for building nuclear weapons, according to The Wall Street Journal.
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The Defense Department has spent about $330 million so far to develop about 20 of the bombs, which are built by Boeing Co., the report pointed out.
The Pentagon is seeking about $82 million more to make the bomb more effective, The Journal said
http://www.france24.com/en/20120128-us-bunker-buster-not-powerful-enough-against-iran
HopeHoops
(47,675 posts)You don't have to hit the beast to starve it.
think
(11,641 posts)The 30,000-lb Massive Ordnance Penetrator Bomb Works So Well It Earned A Rare Honor
The group's recognition with the William J. Perry award was delivered by the Precision Strike Association to honor "one of the Secretary of Defense's number one weapons programs."
Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/this-30000-massive-ordnance-penetrator-bomb-works-so-well-its-design-team-just-won-a-rare-honor-2012-1#ixzz1klo923xh
ProgressiveProfessor
(22,144 posts)You build something that will go through X and the enemy builds it as X+10.
Tierra_y_Libertad
(50,414 posts)Edweird
(8,570 posts)"Hey, I know what would work"....
ProgressiveProfessor
(22,144 posts)Nuclear weapons are air burst/surface weapons
You could argue that closing off all surface access is as good a blowing it up directly. However, while you may know where it is, locating all the access points is much harder.
FarCenter
(19,429 posts)US underground communications bunkers built during the cold war had equipment racks mounted on springs with slack cables such that they could bounce and withstand the shockwaves from nearby surface nuclear blasts.
They also had metal sheathing to shield the electromagnetic pulse effects, and they had ventilation systems that prevented ingestion of radioactive materials following the blast.
Besides which modern missiles are much more accurate and you can dig quite a hole in the ground with a 250 megaton warhead bursting near the surface.