What is the ‘bunker-buster’ bomb that the US just dropped on Iran

By David Rising Associated Press BANGKOK In inserting itself into Israel s war against Iran Washington unleashed its massive bunker-buster bombs on Iran s Fordo fuel enrichment plant Those bombs were widely seen as the best chance of damaging or destroying Fordo built deep into a mountain and untouched during Israel s weeklong offensive A U S official speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the operation before an official briefing endorsed their use in Sunday s attack The U S is the only military capable of dropping the weapons and the movement of B stealth bombers toward Asia on Saturday had signaled achievable activity by the U S Israeli leaders had made no secret of their hopes that President Donald Trump would join their week-old war against Iran though they had also suggested they had backup plans for destroying the site It remained unclear early Sunday how much damage had been inflicted upon Fordo The mission could have wide-ranging ramifications including jeopardizing any chance of Iran engaging in Trump s desired talks on its nuclear activity and dragging the U S into another Mideast war Here s a closer look What is the bunker-buster bomb Bunker buster is a broad term used to describe bombs that are designed to penetrate deep below the surface before exploding In this matter it refers to the latest GBU- A B Massive Ordnance Penetrator bomb in the American arsenal The roughly pound kilogram precision-guided bomb is designed to attack deeply buried and hardened bunkers and tunnels according to the U S Air Force It s inferred to be able to penetrate about feet meters below the surface before exploding and the bombs can be dropped one after another effectively drilling deeper and deeper with each successive blast It was not right away known how a large number of were used in the Sunday morning strike The bomb carries a conventional warhead but the International Atomic Resource Agency has validated that Iran is producing highly enriched uranium at Fordo raising the possibility that nuclear material could be disclosed into the area if the GBU- A B were used to hit the facility However Israeli strikes at another Iranian nuclear site Natanz on a centrifuge site have caused contamination only at the site itself not the surrounding area the IAEA has noted U S warplanes also hit Natanz How tough a target is Fordo Fordo is Iran s second nuclear enrichment facility after Natanz its main facility which already has been targeted by Israeli airstrikes The IAEA says it believes those strikes have had direct impacts on the facility s underground centrifuge halls Fordo is smaller than Natanz and is built into the side of a mountain near the city of Qom about miles kilometers southwest of Tehran Construction is assumed to have started around and it became first operational in the same year Tehran publicly acknowledged its existence In addition to being an estimated meters feet under rock and soil the site is reportedly protected by Iranian and Russian surface-to-air missile systems Those air defenses however likely have already been struck in the Israeli campaign which suggests to have knocked out the majority of Iran s air defenses Still Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has mentioned the goal of attacking Iran was to eliminate its missile and nuclear venture which he described as an existential threat to Israel and agents have noted Fordo was part of that plan This entire operation really has to be completed with the elimination of Fordo Yechiel Leiter Israel s ambassador to the U S communicated Fox News Why does the U S need to be involved In theory the GBU- A B could be dropped by any bomber capable of carrying the weight but at the moment the U S has only configured and programed its B- Spirit stealth bomber to deliver the bomb according to the Air Force The B- is only flown by the Air Force and is produced by Northrop Grumman According to the manufacturer the B- can carry a payload of pounds kilograms but the U S Air Force has reported it has successfully tested the B- loaded with two GBU- A B bunker busters a total weight of selected pounds kilograms The strategic long-range heavy bomber has a range of about miles kilometers without refueling and miles kilometers with one refueling and can reach any point in the world within hours according to Northrop Grumman At the G meeting in Canada Trump was requested what it would take for Washington to become involved militarily and he announced I don t want to talk about that Then on Thursday Trump disclosed he would decide within two weeks whether to get involved to give another chance to the possibility of negotiations with Iran over its nuclear initiative In the end it took just two days to decide Lolita C Baldor contributed from Narragansett Rhode Island