On the night between 21 and 22 June the United States attacked Iran’s nuclear sites with some B-2 Spirit bombers and Tomahawk missiles. Natanz, Isfahan and Fordow have been affected with the deadly and powerful anti-bunker gbu-57/b bombs. What these weapons are and why they have been detached from the USA.
The GBU – 57/B bomb
At 01:50 Italian time today, Sunday 22 June, the President of the United States Donald Trump has announced on his social truth that theAmerican aviation (USAF) bombed Iran. Specifically, he said that the planes – The sophisticated and very expensive bombers of the Northrop Grumman B-2 Spirit – They hit the three nuclear sites Of Natanz, Isfahan and above all the impenetrable system of enrichment of uranium Of Fordow. The latter’s workshops, in fact, are protected in the depths of one mountain About thirty kilometers from Quom, it is estimated under a hundreds of meters of very hard rock. Only the US have a device capable of destroying such and complex objective, the gigantic and powerful Bomb-57/B Massimo Ordnance Penetrator (MOP) designed to rand up to the ground underground bunker armored.
Trump said that after attacks the Iranian objectives were completely destroyed (he used the term “obliterated“) And that the planes they returned healthy and safe after having released the payloaddefining everything as a “spectacular military success”. Iran, on the other hand, said that only surface structures have been damaged and that the nerve ones have not undergone significant damage. What is certain, as indicated by the CNN, is that the sensors of the system Furms (Fire Information for Resource Management System) of Nasa Tonight they detected significant temperature increases near the Fordow nuclear plant, as the effect of the US bombings. The International Agency for Atomic Energy (AIEA) in turn communicated that no increases in radiation near the affected nuclear sites. In addition to the GBU-57/B, it seems to have been launched against the Iranian structures, even numerous Tomahawk missilesbut the “dirty work” would have done it mainly these bombs, not supplied to Israel, whose aviation had started attacking Iran in recent days. Here’s what these devices and why they were used.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=brbvudn-ev0
What are the GBU-57 Massive Ordnance penetrator bombs used by the United States to hit Iran
The gbu-57/b Massive Ordnance penetrator (MOP) bombs are among the most powerful bombs conventional never built by man. Weigh about 13,600 kilograms (almost 14 tons), they are long 6.2 metershave a thickness of about eighty centimeters and contain a frightening amount of explosive. In the head they are housed in fact until 2,600 kilograms of explosives at very high potential like theAFX-757 or of the Pbxn-114. There is only one plane in the world with large enough holds to host these devices without losing efficacy and stealth capacity: the aforementioned B-2 Spirit, which today has an estimated cost per specimen of about 2 billion dollars. The US have about twenty and each specimen can carry two of these deadly bombs. In recent days the United States had brought some of these aircraft closer to Middle Eastern war theater And it was likely that they would be used to hit Iranian nuclear sites, as threatened several times by Trump. The president of the USA, after the attack, continues to ask Iran for the unconditional surrender and the return to the negotiation table; Penalty even more deadly attacks than those launched tonight. Iran has in turn announced “consequent eternal” following the bombing.
How much the uranium must be enriched before having a nuclear bomb
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bdh1x3hd6xq
Among the main characteristics of the GBU-57/B, in addition to the extreme power, there is that of being so-called “smart bombs“Since they are guided precisely on the objectives. The development of these devices began in the early 2000s after observing the field – during the War in Iraq – The non -satisfactory results of previous anti bunker weapons. As indicated by the Military Aviation of the United States (US Air Force or USAF), the project was conducted in collaboration between the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) and the Air Force Research Laboratory, with the support of various companies specialized in armaments.
A model of the GBU – 57/B bomb in a B simulator. Credit: Wikipedia
Because GBU-57/b bombs were used against Iranian nuclear sites
The reason why the Iranian sites of Natanz, Isfahan and in particular Fordow were targeted with the Gbu-57/b bombs of the United States lies in the marked abilities of these weapons Destroy underground goals, deep and well protected sites. Scientific American underlines that these devices, when they are released a 15,000 meters altitude (50,000 feet) from the B-2, hit the ground at an estimated speed greater than Mach-1that is, over 1,200 kilometers per hour at a twenty degree air temperature.
From tests conducted before 2012 it has been shown that these bombs are able to penetrate “60 meters of concrete or rock with a density of 2250 kg per square inch “, explains Scientific Americani. This means that it is possible that to destroy Fordow – if it has actually been destroyed, as Trump says – the release of multiple bombs on the same goal may have been necessary, considering that the uranium enrichment system is estimated is located at a ninety meters of rock. Perhaps the launch of Tomahawk could have The road is further opened.
The GBU-57/B when they impact the ground 900 megajouule of power, they also have sensors who perceive what the device penetrated in the ground, as well as any voids (such as a bunker or tunnels of the workshops of a nuclear plant). There main charge It is activated by the B-2 pilots only after reaching the target with the primary one, that is, when they are sure they have reached the utmost possible depth. The destructive power of the bomb is mainly triggered by the timing steel, which is thrown at monstrous speeds after the explosion of the huge head. Only the US have these weapons and above all planes able to transport and release them.
