A bigger bunker buster

last updated 8 January 2015

The Pentagon has fast-tracked production of its largest non-nuclear bomb, a 30,000-pound model designed to destroy underground weapons bunkers shielded by 10,000 pounds of concrete. Development of the “massive ordnance penetrator,” or MOP, had been dragging, but the Pentagon says it now has an “urgent operational need” for the weapon.

Officials acknowledged that the new bomb is intended to blow up hardened underground sites like those used by Iran and North Korea, but say there is no specific target in mind. “This is just a capability that we think is necessary given the world we live in,” a Pentagon spokesman said. The new bunker buster will carry 5,300 pounds of explosives, making it 10 times more powerful than the current model.