The US used more than a dozen several millions of dollars, 30,000 pounds “Bunker Busters” to bomb Iranian nuclear facilities in a stealth strike of 21 June, which marked the first operational use of the weapon, according to the Pentagon.
In what the Trump administration called 'Operation Midnight Hammer', American bombers 14 of the massive bombs fell on three of the nuclear facilities of Iran, chairman of the joint Chiefs of Staff Air Force Gen. Then Caine told reporters to reporters on 22 June.
The bombs used in the strikes, called solid ordnance penetrators or pugs, each outweigh 30,000 pounds and cost millions to produce. Mops, also known as the guided bomb unit, or GBU-57, are GPS-conducted weapons designed to dig deep in underground goals, such as reinforced tunnels or bunkers. The bombs are approximately 20 feet long and include six feet at their widest point.
The three nuclear locations – Fordo, Natanz and Isfahan – have sustained “extremely serious damage and destruction”, said Caine.
Although Israel Bunker-Busters has a fraction of its weight, only the joke has the opportunity to destroy or seriously damage the nuclear facilities of Iran, experts told USA Today.
Boeing won $ 70 million contracts for Bunker Busters
It is unclear exactly how much the joke costs, but defense contracts to produce them have been worth tens of millions.
The Ministry of Defense in 2019 handed Boeing $ 70 million to work on the weapons in the St. Louis facility. The company won updated contracts for MOP production worth more than $ 77 million in 2021.
'Biggest' B-2 strike in history
The B-2-bomber is the only plane that is able to wear the massive pugs-elke bomber can hold a few bombs.
Seven B-2-bombers flew the 14 bombs to Iran from Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri, but more than 125 aircraft were involved in the mission, according to Caine.
On the B-2, bomber can wear solid ordnance penetrator bombs.
“This was the largest B-2 operational strike in American history and the second longest B-2 mission ever flown,” said Caine.
The Air Force ran five successful test drops of the bombs in the white sand range of New Mexico in 2012 – three with live nuclear heads and two with inert nuclear heads.
This article originally appeared on USA Today: Iran Nuclear Strikes were first used of 30,000 pounds Bunker Busters
