US tests massive bomb

This afternoon the US tested the MOAB, Massive Ordinance Air Blast(or the Mother Of All Bombs), in Florida. They said it weighs approx. 21,000 pounds and would replace the daisy cutter. It sounds from the article that they are trying to scare Suddam into cooperating. They also said it would be dropped from a C-130 with a parachute and then be giuded by GPS.

"The goal is to not have a war. The goal is to have the pressure be so great that Saddam Hussein cooperates," said Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. Military officials say they hope the MOAB will create such a huge blast that it will rattle Iraq troops and pressure them into surrendering or not even fighting. Officials suggest perhaps the Iraqis might even mistake a MOAB blast for a nuclear detonation."

www.cnn.com...

[Edited on 11-3-2003 by ProudAmerican]

Our friends in Iraq are about to learn all about shock and awe....

If that is bigger that the Dasy Cutter. Only God or Allah can save them.

inflicted on the threat of the spread of these types of weapons to countries world wide. If you people do some research you will find that the Daisy Cutter and the MOAB are not the on illegal weapons we have ruthlessly used on civilian populations in order to remove a military threat from within those populations of innocents. Murderous rage is all these bombs are. I can't believe you people support such horrific and sinful crimes of humanity.

Full Story


ZM: I fixed the image url...so you can see it, thought it might be handy...

[Edited on 12-3-2003 by Zion Mainframe]

Listen 'Abraham Virtue' there is a difference when a bomb is used against a foes ARMY, these are not innocent men by all means, the Iraqi Army and the Iraqi Regime is very oppressive and kill to get their point across which is Support Saddam or Die. I don't see Bush killing Americans for his Vote. and certainly doesn't happen here in Australia.
Bombs like these are used only against Military targets and not against civilian populations. Civilians sometimes die like in all wars, a tragedy I know.
Can you tell me another way to make Iraq disarm........? No I didn't think so. You are part of the Vocal Minority and your cries will go unheard because they are unreasonable.

for 150 years ago, we had honor in combat, th bravest would battle line to line, in civilised conflict. today it's a different story. the world wars ushered in a new age of sadistic murder not seen since the age of barbarians and huns and visigoths and them. today with our new technological death, we could easily keep the people who die not civilian, but too few are brave enough to fight like that. bombs destroy entire villages and cities, man made plague can kill full populations, and radiation kills those who thought they escaped. only true warriors have their honor, and today there is none free of sin, none free of lies. honor has been lost.

I am curious as to why they are publicizing this weapon over the Fuel Air Explosive (FAE) which has a much higher explosive and destructive potential....

to scare and intimdate those who oppose. you know how it is, get the big flashy one and show them the real power during combat. maybe a MOAB or two but it will definately be more blu-82s than moabs.

Originally posted by Abraham Virtue
inflicted on the threat of the spread of these types of weapons to countries world wide. If you people do some research you will find that the Daisy Cutter and the MOAB are not the on illegal weapons we have ruthlessly used on civilian populations in order to remove a military threat from within those populations of innocents. Murderous rage is all these bombs are. I can't believe you people support such horrific and sinful crimes of humanity.

Moronic.

No, we support what Hussein stands for, and what he wants to do to our children and our country.

The fact that you can support a truly murderous despot while calling this nation murderous tells me you aren't rational. Pull your head out of baseless anti-American conspiracies and take a glance at a little reality.

www.defenselink.mil...

(link to download the video of the bomb being dropped)

What's nice about this bomb, unlike the daisy cutter, is it's guided.




[Edited on 12-3-2003 by Bob88]

materials and tactics we will use for this war. That just shows how little you people really know about listening. I didn't say anything about Saddam did I??? All I said is that these weapons are dropped on targets surrounded by innocents. I dare you to prove me wrong.


Come on, you can do it.



Can't you?

Originally posted by Abraham Virtue
materials and tactics we will use for this war. That just shows how little you people really know about listening. I didn't say anything about Saddam did I??? All I said is that these weapons are dropped on targets surrounded by innocents. I dare you to prove me wrong.


Come on, you can do it.



Can't you?

You my friend are an idiot. Name one instance where the US has used one of these bombs on a civilian population.
Can't ? I wonder why, maybe it's because they haven't. Do some reading you ignoramus, before posting these stupid comments. It's quite obvious that you have done little reading on this subject.

So please don't patronize me about my lack of research. I could careless if you agree that it did really happen. You know I am not a wack job, I don't keep the articles of every single thing that has ever been reported so I can prove a point to someone, okay so exuse me for not backing it up with proof. I guess you need prove for you to believe huh??? Well if that's the way you live than you must not believe in God. You know all knowledge is useful and those truths are not. Why??? Why aren't truths useful???? Because they close doors. The journey for the knowledge contained in the search for the truth was lost and forgotten. That can be said for all forms of knowledge. What???? What could be said???? That all forms of knowledge are lost. You See?

[Edited on 12-3-2003 by Abraham Virtue]

I don't believe in god and yes judging by this ramble you are a whack job. As for your post, back it up with facts, where for example has the US used or said they are going to use these bombs on civilians. See what I mean, you're spouting BS.

The U.S. Air Force is demonstrating a 21,000-pound bomb armed with conventional explosives that would do massive damage and creative a mushroom-shaped cloud, sources said March 6. An even larger bomb, weighing 30,000 pounds, apparently also is being considered. The larger bomb projects follow development of the 15,000-pound "Daisy Cutter" bomb, which was used in Afghanistan.......

........Steve Butler, director of engineering at the Air Armament Center at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., said at a conference last year that Air Force interest in a follow-on to the Daisy Cutter was gaining. He said options ranged from simply reproducing the BLU-82/B to developing a dramatically heavier munition with a scaleable blast capability.

He said he was lobbying Air Force and Defense Department officials to pursue the latter option and develop a 30,000-pound penetrator/blast weapon that could be tailored to the threat.

"We are looking very seriously at both very, very heavy penetrators and blast weapons," Butler said last October at the Precision Strike Technology Symposium at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Md. "We'd like to create a family of weapons of very large size that are uniquely available to go after certain targets."


AIR FORCE LINK

[Edited on 12-3-2003 by mad scientist]

The MOAB is not a FAE in the true sense of the world. Read this :

Both the MOAB and the BLU-82 have been incorrectly reported to be fuel-air explosive (FAE) weapons, where a cloud of a hydrocarbon-based aerosol is created that is then detonated. Because such an explosive uses the oxygen in the atmosphere as the oxidant, it is more �efficient� than many high explosives, but it also requires relatively calm weather conditions and is difficult to use in quantities of more than a ton. Even so, a modern FAE is a very dangerous and damaging weapon, especially when used against buildings. There are unconfirmed reports that the Israelis used such weapons during the siege of Beirut in 1982. In that conflict, some 20,000 people died in and around the city.

The BLU-82 and the MOAB are, in fact, much larger and more powerful weapons even than an FAE. They are based on a mix of ammonium nitrate and powdered aluminium in an aqueous suspension or slurry, with a binding agent to hold the materials together before detonation. The effect of the BLU-82 is astonishing, and rare film shows a detonation, shock wave and subsequent mushroom cloud very similar to a small nuclear weapon, even if it is actually a conventional bomb.


MOAB

Military analysts blame strong upper level winds as the reason the 21,000 lb MOAB bomb missed its intended coordinates.

But the Air Force remains undeterred and stated they will target Hollywood, CA again in the next few days.

deleted

I can't help thinking that this would be a jolly nice way to hide a "real" small nuclear bunker-blaster. Electromagnetic phenomena are apparently to be expected from the MOAB.

Estragon,



Electromagnetic phenomena may occur but radioactive contamination wouldn't.

World powers have abstained from using nuclear weapons over a sixty year period for fear of Pandoras box being opened. And rightfully so...if six decades of global conflicts were resovled with nuclear weaponry, we would all be rotting down in our bomb shelters today.

Current mentality then suggests the creation of mega-weapons which would create a level 2 deterrence without the key word "nuclear" mentioned.

There have been suggestions that the US used uranium enriched projectiles during the 1st gulf war. If this is true, and people were in fact irradiated and killed by this method, then where are the lines drawn for nuclear capable countries in future conflicts?

deleted

sorry folks: "depleted" uranium was the correct word.

[Edited on 3-12-2003 by deleted]