Air Weapons Article Index : Current 1999 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013
 Latest
 News
 
 Most
 Read
 
 Most
 Commented
 Hot
 Topics
November 15, 2004
   
The U.S. Air Force has backed off on building a nuclear deep penetration bomb, and is instead going with one using conventional explosives. The new bomb, the Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP), will weight 15 tons and be carried internally by the B-2 or B-52 bombers. The MOP will be guided, by GPS (as well as other methods as a backup.) First test models are to be available in 2005. Operational characteristics (how deep the bomb can go in different types of material) has not been announced. And probably wont be, as you would want to keep that data secret lest the bad guys dig too deep for MOP to reach them.