We just dropped a big one... on Afghanistan. I wonder how effective it is on underground (tunnels, caves) structures. Presumably it detonates on contact, maybe? So maybe not as effective on hardened facilities?
The GBU-43 MOAB is not designed to penetrate hardened structures, but it can overpressure tunnels, caves, etc from the outside, and severely discourage anybody within a pretty good radius with blast/frag effects. Incidentally, all the news reports have been incorrect, the GBU-43 is not the largest bomb in the inventory. That honor goes to the GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrator, which is designed to penetrate hardened facilities and weighs ~30,000 lbs vs the GBU-43' at ~22,000 lbs. The B-2 can carry 2 of either one of them. The Grand Slam sub pen buster of WW-II was about the same weight as the GBU-43, but the GBU-57 is even heavier.
Why did the US wait so long if this bomb is effective against caves and tunnels? Fear of collateral damages in said caves? Or are those caves/tunnels near cities?
As a member SAC during the cold war, I'd be willing to make a BIG bet that the SAC boys are not happy to see that a cargo plane just delivered the mother-of-all bombs in our arsenal. Tomahawk missiles at $500,000 each seem a bargain with each MOAB costing about $16 million. Also, how come the Ruskies supposedly have one 4X bigger? I know I sleep better at night knowing that we are planning to greatly increase military funding while DT wants to make draconian cuts to social programs. Follow the money! Maybe we'll be able to afford the BIGGEST non-nuclear bomb in the world sometime.
The idea is to create what is called "overpressure" at the highest rate possible. Simply put, it's high pressure that collapses the tunnels that were the target. Overpressure is highest over a large area when the bomb is detonated in the air, not upon striking the earth. The MOAB was a few feet above the ground when detonated, creating a pressure increase over a wide area. If it had hit the ground before detonating. a large portion of the bomb's energy would have been imparted to a relatively small piece of real estate. This would diminish it's ability to collapse tunnels not in the immediate area of contact.
They tested a MOAB bomb over at Eglin Air Force base years ago. People in my area could feel it and I'm a good hours drive away. I wouldn't want to be in a tunnel when that thing hit. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_gk49n5djw
Only trouble is, the use of an MC-130 limits where you can use the GBU-43, unlike the GBU-57 penetrator that can be dropped from a B-2. The GBU-57 now gives us a capability against targets that were only vulnerable to nukes, very large nukes or penetrating nukes, in the past. We used a similar weapon to the GBU-43 in Viet-Nam, the 15,000 lb BLU-82 Daisy Cutter, mainly to clear LZs. Also delivered from C-130s. That would give you a headache from quite a distance, too.
That reminded me of an incident in 1943 when I was on the beach and was startled by a wave of pressure in the air and a soft sound of thump. There was nothing in sight when I looked out at the Gulf but several days later a half burned mattress and some burned wood washed ashore. We never knew what happened but we did know that there were subs operating in the Gulf.
Bob- The Navy regularly sunk ships that had exceeded their useful service life in the Gulf. They actually made pretty good artificial reefs. Often used as target practice for submarines or aircraft, but also often just packed with explosives and scuttled. Could have been that.
The nickname for the MOAB is "Mother Of All Bombs" but a local sports bar here calls their prime menu item the MOAB for "Mother Of All Burgers"!
