The US military released images of the bomb as tensions with Iran escalated following the breakdown of talks over the latter’s nuclear program.
The bomb is known by two names: GBU-57 and the massive penetrating bomb.
The US military claims this bomb is capable of penetrating deep into the ground and penetrating large underground facilities, such as those used to enrich uranium.
Shortly after, the military removed some of the photos because they revealed sensitive details about the bomb.
The images were posted on the account of the “Whitman” base in Missouri, where the B-2 strategic bomber fleet is located, which is the warplane capable of carrying this weapon.
Bomb specs
The weight of this bomb is more than 12,000 kilograms. It has a thick steel frame, allowing it to penetrate soil and cement before exploding. Only one US Air Force aircraft is capable of dropping it, the B-2. It penetrates fortresses up to 60 meters underground.
The bomb is linked to Iran
The US military began developing the bomb around the turn of the new millennium, with growing fears of the existence of underground Iranian nuclear facilities.
And in 2019, coinciding with escalating US-Iranian tension, the US Air Force released photos and videos showing two B-2 bombers dropping two such bombs.
Surprise nuclear cache
But what seemed to be the latest American weapon to confront the underground forts, is no longer the case after the discovery of an Iranian nuclear facility located at a depth the bomb can not reach.
This bomb, which has been prepared to deal with various scenarios, including the strike of Iranian nuclear facilities, may not be effective in dealing with a nuclear site that Iran is building at great depth at the foot of a mountain.
The Associated Press reported that the bomb represents the latest US weapon to hit underground bunkers.
On Monday, news reports reported that Iran had started building an underground nuclear site.
According to American experts, the nuclear installation was built at a very great depth (100 meters underground), so much so that it seems beyond the reach of a newly designed American weapon to destroy such sites.
What we hear here is the huge armor-piercing bomb.
Photos taken by Planet Labs BBC showed Iran tunneling into the mountain near the Natanz nuclear reactor, which has been repeatedly attacked.
The new location is complicating Western efforts to prevent Tehran from developing an atomic bomb, as diplomacy continues to falter on its nuclear program.
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