US wants bunker-buster fast, denies Iran is reason

US wants bunker-buster fast, denies Iran is reason

hosted.ap.org

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Pentagon is speeding up delivery of a colossal bomb designed to destroy hidden weapons bunkers buried underground and shielded by 10,000 pounds of reinforced concrete.

Pentagon officials acknowledge that the new bomb is intended to blow up fortified sites like those used by Iran and North Korea for their nuclear programs, but they deny there is a specific target in mind.

"I don't think anybody can divine potential targets," Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell said...

(visit the link for the full news article)

Defense Secretary Robert Gates recently said a strike against Iran's nuclear facilities would probably only buy time. Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Adm. Mike Mullen has called a strike an option he doesn't want to use.

'would probably only buy time'.....time for WHAT, Mr. Gates? They're still slowly feeding enough of this too us to get all ready, I think. Of course, the Admiral doesn't want to hit Iran, he knows better. They will replace him soon.

That revelation came a month after the Pentagon had asked Congress to shift money to speed up the MOP program, although U.S. and other intelligence agencies had suspected for years that Iran was still hiding at least one nuclear development site.

We'll just pretend like the government is going to tell us the truth, for once. We are 'rushing' to get the MOP ready, but we don't have any targets picked out....we just 'need' it because we live in a bad neighborhood. Hmmm.


hosted.ap.org
(visit the link for the full news article)

Surely a nobel peace prize winner would not be considering attacking another nation? This is the problem with giving the award to a sitting US president. If there is one nation on earth I'm reasonably sure will be bombing another nation in the next few years it's the US.

Well, this thread is not about a NOBEL PEACE prize what it is about is MEDIA output.

What a wonderful way to get the NUCLEAR FACILITIES MOVING, epsecially if they think that U.S. is capable of knowing where they are, where in actuality they probably don't know where all of them are. Probably just a few mabye ONE. But if they scare them into moving the Materials, it will be much easier to pick up and find the targets. How wonderful and Mind Gaming the U.S. and thier media outlets are. PATHETIC REALLY.

I remember back in the day when we were more concerned with our country and what is going on here. Where are the threads on LA, and CALIFORNIA, and the new munition sales that they are doing starting 2011.

CRAZY, Swartsneggar or whatever his name is might as well be PAWN, the only difference is no matter how far along in the game he goes he will NEVER CHANGE INTO ANYTHIGN ELSE. SAD

Well..................

He has not done it .............yet..................

It could be political pressure...............

By letting Iran know we are more than capable of destroying their nuclear bomb making underground facilities, without nukes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Perhaps this knowledge will induce Iran to stop it's nuclear bomb program so an attack is not necessary.

Thats what a lot of folks are saying. This is more political than military. This is just to let Iran and NK know that we can do this if we want...its just another bargaining chip nothing else. And it isnt news...there have been multiple threads on here over the last couple of months. DEBKA broke this story about 2 months ago.

Originally posted by mrmonsoon
Well..................

He has not done it .............yet..................

It could be political pressure...............

By letting Iran know we are more than capable of destroying their nuclear bomb making underground facilities, without nukes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Perhaps this knowledge will induce Iran to stop it's nuclear bomb program so an attack is not necessary.

[edit on 13-10-2009 by princeofpeace]

Originally posted by Deus_Brandon
Well, this thread is not about a NOBEL PEACE prize what it is about is MEDIA output.

What a wonderful way to get the NUCLEAR FACILITIES MOVING, epsecially if they think that U.S. is capable of knowing where they are, where in actuality they probably don't know where all of them are. Probably just a few mabye ONE. But if they scare them into moving the Materials, it will be much easier to pick up and find the targets. How wonderful and Mind Gaming the U.S. and thier media outlets are. PATHETIC REALLY.

I remember back in the day when we were more concerned with our country and what is going on here. Where are the threads on LA, and CALIFORNIA, and the new munition sales that they are doing starting 2011.

CRAZY, Swartsneggar or whatever his name is might as well be PAWN, the only difference is no matter how far along in the game he goes he will NEVER CHANGE INTO ANYTHIGN ELSE. SAD

It's as much about A Nobel Peace Prize as it is about the governor of California.

To ME, this is about lying. It's about getting a weapon rushed when you have no immediate NEED for it. If you don't need it, why rush it? Seems to me that if it was business as usual, the development pace could proceed along leisurely and end up costing the usual billions or whatever, instead of paying double that to have it 'RUSHED.'

It's about lying. I think they're lying about not having a target in mind and that they are feeding this crap to the people and not even TRYING to be creative with the bull any more.

To me, this is a sinister sign that they are convinced we are sufficiently brainwashed to believe their crap without asking for any explanation. Hook line and sinker.

I don't have the "stock" list of the US Armed Forces but I'm guessing that we probably already have a bunker buster or two lying around. We constantly buy weapons that we aren't going to use in the near future. Obviously, I could be wrong but, I think this is a political ploy (as has been said here already). Scare Iran, watch them move their nuclear facilities, gain intelligence.

[edit on 13-10-2009 by really]

Originally posted by princeofpeace
Thats what a lot of folks are saying. This is more political than military. This is just to let Iran and NK know that we can do this if we want...its just another bargaining chip nothing else. And it isnt news...there have been multiple threads on here over the last couple of months. DEBKA broke this story about 2 months ago.

It may very well be posturing, but it is apparent that a weapons system is being rushed. This thread is about the manipulation. It's about speeding up the production of a weapon so it can just sit around not being used. Makes a lot of sense.

If you are referring to your September thread HERE, that's not quite a 'couple months'...and your article had NOTHING in it about the administration DENYING it has a target in mind. It's a good thread, but not what this one is about. As amatter of fact, your debka article says this:

Last month, DEBKAfile quoted Air Force Lt. Gen. Mark Shackelford as disclosing that the Pentagon had decided to accelerate the production of 10-12 giant bunker buster bombs in response to intelligence received of Iranian and North Korean underground nuclear plants.

Perhaps the change in justification for this weapon is something you would just like to disregard. That's your prerogative. I prefer to shine a light on it.

The source used for this thread was dated TODAY, from AP, at 6:35 A.M. If you don't feel it's worthy of your time, you COULD just move on, without trying to determine for the rest of us what is 'news' and what is not.

Thanks for your input.

It would surprise me a lot if bunker busters were bought instead of made in the US. It would surprise me a lot also if they didn't already have a couple like a previous poster has said.

But yes, this overt indicator of needing a bunker buster is for show at the moment. If they were seriously going to use it, they wouldn't want anyone to know they had it, or intended to use it.

All warfare is based on deception -Sun Tzu

Edit for coffee


[edit on 13-10-2009 by Lazyninja]

reply to post by KSPigpen


You just really never know when a massive bunker busting bomb can come in handy, and you the military likes to be prepared for every contingency. I am sure it has nothing to do with Iran.

reply to post by 4ortunate1


I am going to guess it is not going to be used by the U.S, but delivered to Israel for usage on Iran (If an attack is really their true intention). Hopefully they will be duds and not release radioactive material into the atmosphere or start a Middle Eastern general war, that's about all you can hope for here


Nobel Peace Prize winners often have form when it comes to attacking, invading other countries and killing innocent people, Theodore Roosevelt(Panama), Henry Kissenger (Vietnam,Cambodia,Laos), Shimon Peres(West Bank & Gaza), Yasser Arafat(Israel). I don't know why everyone was so shocked by Obama's Prize, just seems to have been following a general rule of the prize.

Yeah. Ya never know. The GBU-28 was needed and produced on short notice.

It was specifically developed for US Military use in Operation Desert Storm to penetrate hardened Iraqi command centres located deep under ground. However, only two of these weapons were dropped in Desert Storm, both by F-111Fs.[2]

The initial batch of GBU-28s were built from modified 8 inch/203 mm artillery barrels (principally from deactivated M110 howitzers), but later warheads were purpose-built.

en.wikipedia.org...

Casting for some of the initial ones took place over at Eglin AFB.

The first foreign sale of the GBU-28 was the acquisition of 100 units by Israel, authorized in April 2005.[6] Delivery of the weapons was accelerated at the request of Israel in July 2006.

So.. why the push to get the GBU-57 [Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP)] operable?

My guess is FMS -> Foreign Military Sales.

Originally posted by mrmonsoon
Well..................

He has not done it .............yet..................

It could be political pressure...............

By letting Iran know we are more than capable of destroying their nuclear bomb making underground facilities, without nukes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Perhaps this knowledge will induce Iran to stop it's nuclear bomb program so an attack is not necessary.

Too bad no Iran "nuclear bomb program" (sounds like the exact words of the propaganda script) exists...

Too bad if it did, it does not threaten the US or Israel.

Warmongers and their attachments disgust me...

reply to post by TSawyer


Sorry if the truth hurts ya.

Remember, this site is for denying ignorance.

Originally posted by TSawyer
Too bad no Iran "nuclear bomb program" (sounds like the exact words of the propaganda script) exists...

Too bad if it did, it does not threaten the US or Israel.

Can you please provide the evidence that it doesn't exist? I believe, as pointed out, this is a way for the United States to gain intelligence by putting some sweat on the brow of Iran. It is a high-stakes poker game that no one really knows that the exact stakes are. They could have a weapons program (multiple intelligence agency NOT THE CIA have said they have started it back up) or they could not.

Should we just say no they don't or would it be wiser to know for certain?

I don't think many of 'yall get it.

Whether or not it's Iran or North Korea, or Russia or China or Zaire... the ability of the US to reach deeper targets places the onus on whoever it might be... to dig deeper and place more safeguards/reinforcement on whatever structure it is that they wish to concel/protect.

The deeper you go, the higher the cost and the more difficult it gets. Then you always have to wonder if some idiot is gonna drop a GBU-57 in or near the entrance to open it up, then followed in short order by a thermobaric bomb to suck all the air out of the facility, killing everybody there.

Yeah... I'd place a bit of concern on that.

A major part of war doesn't involve shooting. It involves pondering what may happen.


BTW.. that thermobaric follow-up would be a great way to neutralize chem-bio devices. Might be a problem with spreading radiation though.

[edit on 13-10-2009 by RoofMonkey]

It will take a years or more for the weapons to even get in service.
Then you still have to train the ground crews to set up these weapon and train the pilots in the use of these weapons. And ship the weapons to forward sites for use.

The military likes to have specialty weapons ready so they never have to tell the command authority that they can not do a strike because they do not have the proper weapons.

This also tells any country that they may be used on that they will have to spend more time and money to bury the projects a lot deeper.

Since this weapon is guided all the military has to do is keep dropping these bombs down the same hole and sooner or later they will dig the hold deep enough.

Another thing this may be is a test bed for a robust nuclear earth penetrator.
feinstein.senate.gov...

All they would have to do is to put a off the shelf nuclesr warhead in the weapon instead of the conventional explosives.

This could be done in days without any redesign work.
plus it could bypass any weapons treaty because it would not be a nuclear penetrator till just before use.

A W23 warhead the same as used in the Mark 23 16-inch nuclear round for the Iowa class battle ships would fit.
en.wikipedia.org...(nuclear_artillery_shell)#W23

Not at all. These will be in service in 6-10 months if not sooner (hell they are probably already inservice). The public is just finding out about it so you all know what that means. As ar as training, delivery etc, the dropping of these will be no different than the current bunker busters that we have.

Originally posted by ANNED
It will take a years or more for the weapons to even get in service.
Then you still have to train the ground crews to set up these weapon and train the pilots in the use of these weapons. And ship the weapons to forward sites for use.

The military likes to have specialty weapons ready so they never have to tell the command authority that they can not do a strike because they do not have the proper weapons.

This also tells any country that they may be used on that they will have to spend more time and money to bury the projects a lot deeper.

Since this weapon is guided all the military has to do is keep dropping these bombs down the same hole and sooner or later they will dig the hold deep enough.

Another thing this may be is a test bed for a robust nuclear earth penetrator.
feinstein.senate.gov...

All they would have to do is to put a off the shelf nuclesr warhead in the weapon instead of the conventional explosives.

This could be done in days without any redesign work.
plus it could bypass any weapons treaty because it would not be a nuclear penetrator till just before use.

A W23 warhead the same as used in the Mark 23 16-inch nuclear round for the Iowa class battle ships would fit.
en.wikipedia.org...(nuclear_artillery_shell)#W23

Since this weapon is guided all the military has to do is keep dropping these bombs down the same hole and sooner or later they will dig the hold deep enough.

Think about it... three rounds... close to a 600 foot dig, baring debris falling back in the hole...

In WW-II, there was a rather robust bridge that no one could seem to hit and take out. Using the massive ordinance concept, the bomb that got it burrowed in deep and essentially shook the ground out from under the bridge footing... collapsing the span. And that was a great great grand daddy to this thing.


And of course... another ancestor... the T12

[edit on 13-10-2009 by RoofMonkey]