Friday, November 25, 2011

Huge bombs delivered

The Pentagon has taken delivery of huge bunker-busting bombs designed to penetrate deep to reach underground facilities. Boeing delivered 20 of the Massive Ordnance Penetrators to the Air Force. Each GPS-guided penetrator is 20 feet long, weighs 30,000 pounds and carries a 5,300-pound payload. The explosive power of a MOP is 10 times that of its predecessor, the BLU-109. The Air Force began taking delivery of the bombs, which can be carried in a B-2, in September. (Source: Los Angeles Times, Fox News, Bloomberg via SF Chronicle, 11/16/11) Gulf Coast note: Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., has been involved in developing and deploying the MOP. Previous postings: contract; contract; contract; Bunker buster deployment nears; Pentagon eyes bunker buster speedup