us’s ‘mother of all bombs’ has origins in wwii antinazi weaponry
Last Updated : GMT 09:07:40
Egypt Today, egypt today
Egypt Today, egypt today
Last Updated : GMT 09:07:40
Egypt Today, egypt today

US’s ‘mother of all bombs’ has origins in WWII anti-Nazi weaponry

Egypt Today, egypt today

Egypt Today, egypt today US’s ‘mother of all bombs’ has origins in WWII anti-Nazi weaponry

A video grab from 2003 color file footage courtesy the US Air Force
Washington - Arab Today

The 11-ton "mother of all bombs" dropped by U.S. forces on ISIS-linked fighters in Afghanistan is a highly specialized weapon with a heritage dating back to huge bombs developed for use against Nazi targets in World War Two.

The 21,600-pound (9,797-kg) GBU-43 (Guided Bomb Unit), one of only 15 ever built, was developed after the U.S. military found itself without the ordnance needed to deal with al Qaeda tunnel systems in the hunt for Osama Bin Laden in 2001.

But the Massive Ordnance Air Blast Bomb, or MOAB, as it is also known, had never been used in combat until a U.S. MC-130 aircraft dropped one on the Achin district of Nangarhar, bordering Pakistan, on Thursday.

Afghan officials say it killed as many as 36 suspected Islamic State militants, although a news agency affiliated with Islamic State in the Middle East carried a statement denying that the group had suffered casualties in the attack.

A U.S. official who monitored the attack said it was impossible to determine how many ISIS fighters might be buried in the underground complex. But he said it could be "significant" because the attack came at evening prayer time, when fighters might have been concentrated in one area.

The U.S. commander in Afghanistan said on Friday that the decision to use one of the biggest conventional bombs ever used in combat was purely tactical.

Experts said that while the use of the bomb was likely a technical decision of matching the most effective ordnance to a specific target - tunnels and caves in an unpopulated area - its shock waves would have been sent not only to ISIS fighters, but also to North Korea, which conceals its nuclear weapons program deep underground, and Iran, which has a large uranium enrichment facility buried in a granite mountain.In addition, said an administration official who spoke on the condition of anonymity, the attack also reinforces the message that U.S. President Donald Trump has given his military commanders freer rein than did his predecessor, Barack Obama.

"What I do is I authorize my military," Trump told reporters on Thursday in response to a question about the use of the bomb. "We have the greatest military in the world, and they've done the job, as usual. We have given them total authorization, and that's what they're doing."

Tomahawks, too

The bombing came less than a week after Trump ordered the firing of 59 Tomahawk missiles at a Syrian airfield in response to a deadly nerve gas attack. That raised questions about his plans for North Korea, which has conducted missile and nuclear tests in defiance of U.N. and unilateral sanctions.

"Certainly there's a signaling element as a by-product – possibly being a signal to Syria or North Korea; certainly there is a signal to ISIS that no matter how much you try to hide, no matter how deep you dig, we can still get you," said Mark Cancian, a retired U.S. Marine Corps colonel and ordnance specialist. {nL3N1HM1N5]

Cancian, an adviser at Washington's Center for Strategic and International Studies think-tank, said regular bombs were not able to destroy a tunnel and cave complex.

"You need something with a lot of concussion. It goes off slightly above ground, but it creates a tremendous blast wave that will go deep into a cave and around corners, which frustrate regular munitions."

Retired U.S. Air Force General Dave Deptula, a former commander of the air operations center for Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan in 2001, said the GBU-43 was developed to replace the 15,000-pound "Daisy Cutter" bomb he employed there.

The Daisy Cutter, which was first used to clear landing strips for helicopters in Vietnam, was employed partly for the psychological effect of its massive blast.

Deptula, Cancian and U.S. military officials said the United States has an even larger bomb in its inventory - the 30,000 pound (14,000 kg) GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP), which would be more effective against North Korea's nuclear test site, given its ability to penetrate reinforced concrete and anti-blast steel doors.

Deptula said the MOAB was designed to create over-pressure to collapse caves and a blast effect over about a mile on soft-to medium ground. The MOB, which has never been employed in combat, was designed to penetrate deep and hardened targets.

The MOAB and the MOP owe their origins to massive "Tallboy" and "Grand Slam" bombs developed by the British in World War Two for use against Nazi targets such as V-1 and V-2 missile sites and the battleship Tirpitz.

Deptula said that while the decision to drop the MOAB appeared be tactical, he acknowledged the psychological side-effects.

source: Alarabiya

egypttoday
egypttoday

Name *

E-mail *

Comment Title*

Comment *

: Characters Left

Mandatory *

Terms of use

Publishing Terms: Not to offend the author, or to persons or sanctities or attacking religions or divine self. And stay away from sectarian and racial incitement and insults.

I agree with the Terms of Use

Security Code*

us’s ‘mother of all bombs’ has origins in wwii antinazi weaponry us’s ‘mother of all bombs’ has origins in wwii antinazi weaponry



GMT 21:06 2017 Monday ,01 May

Will Smith at all-star Jazz Day in Cuba

GMT 06:25 2017 Monday ,27 November

Bali raises volcano alert to highest level

GMT 12:45 2018 Monday ,26 November

Israeli forces close entrance of village in Ramallah

GMT 12:14 2018 Monday ,08 October

HM King congratulates Ugandan President

GMT 13:49 2017 Thursday ,17 August

Alibaba posts 94% surge in quarterly profit

GMT 08:47 2017 Saturday ,10 June

CDD responds to 236 various incidents

GMT 00:31 2015 Saturday ,16 May

Canada plans 30% CO2 emissions cut by 2030

GMT 03:31 2017 Wednesday ,22 February

‘Man-made’ climate change a major woman’s problem

GMT 10:42 2017 Thursday ,16 November

Algeria FM leaves Cairo following tripartite meeting

GMT 11:08 2017 Tuesday ,03 October

Moscow, Riyadh willing to boost cooperation

GMT 08:40 2017 Thursday ,31 August

Bahrain Bourse daily trading performance

GMT 18:23 2017 Wednesday ,29 March

Ghazali's ALTARSHEED

GMT 08:22 2012 Wednesday ,04 July

Berenice Marlohe in racy shoot

GMT 15:47 2012 Friday ,20 January

2012 Honda Civic

GMT 10:37 2012 Friday ,13 July

2013 Ford Mustang

GMT 13:17 2011 Monday ,17 October

Hip hop stars to take centrestage at Yas Island

GMT 12:19 2017 Thursday ,27 July

Libya asks Italy to combat human trafficking

GMT 13:11 2017 Wednesday ,04 October

Jacques Dubochet (Switzerland), Joachim Frank (US)

GMT 12:26 2017 Thursday ,02 November

CAPRICORN (December22nd-January20th)

GMT 22:21 2017 Tuesday ,19 December

Haifa Wahby apologized for not receiving award

GMT 14:56 2017 Tuesday ,17 October

Palestinian cabinet decries Sinai terror attack
 
 Egypt Today Facebook,egypt today facebook  Egypt Today Twitter,egypt today twitter Egypt Today Rss,egypt today rss  Egypt Today Youtube,egypt today youtube  Egypt Today Youtube,egypt today youtube

Maintained and developed by Arabs Today Group SAL.
All rights reserved to Arab Today Media Group 2021 ©

Maintained and developed by Arabs Today Group SAL.
All rights reserved to Arab Today Media Group 2021 ©

egypttoday egypttoday egypttoday egypttoday
egypttoday egypttoday egypttoday
egypttoday
بناية النخيل - رأس النبع _ خلف السفارة الفرنسية _بيروت - لبنان
egypttoday, Egypttoday, Egypttoday