What You Need to Know About the 30,000-lb. Bomb That Could Crush Iran's Nuclear Weapons Dreams

We’ve highlighted the critical location that Israel (or the U.S.) must target to effectively disrupt Iran’s ambitions of developing a nuclear weapon. This site, known as Fordo (occasionally spelled Fordow), is situated deeply within a mountain and reportedly houses several centrifuges alongside an expanding uranium stockpile.

But what methods would be suitable for incapacitating such a heavily fortified site, aside from deploying a high-risk assault team with limited chances of success? A consensus among experts is that the United States possesses the sole weapon capable of achieving this feat: the formidable GBU-57 A/B Massive Ordnance Penetrator bomb. This weapon, weighing approximately 15 tons, is engineered to bore into rock formations before unleashing its potent destructive power.

The term “bunker buster” generically describes explosives designed to infiltrate deep beneath the earth’s surface before detonating. In this context, it pertains to the most advanced GBU-57 A/B Massive Ordnance Penetrator bomb within the U.S. arsenal. This precision-guided munition, weighing roughly 30,000 pounds (13,600 kilograms), is purpose-built to target deeply entrenched and fortified bunkers and tunnels, as detailed by the U.S. Air Force.


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