Latest news with #GBU57
Le Figaro
5 days ago
- General
- Le Figaro
Inside a B-2 Bomber: What It's Like to Fly a U.S. Strike Mission Over Iran
Réservé aux abonnés To strike Iran's nuclear facilities on June 22, the pilots of the seven B-2 bombers armed with GBU-57 bunker-buster bombs flew nonstop for 37 hours - without ever touching the ground. Since its first combat missions in 1999, B-2 have carried only the bare essentials, built as they are for stealth, range, and precision. The American mission 'Midnight Hammer,' which targeted key Iranian nuclear sites on the night of June 22, was not only an operational success. It also represented a physical feat for the B-2 Spirit pilots who dropped GBU-57 bunker-busting bombs on Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan. Departing from Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri, the seven aircraft covered the thousands of kilometers to Iran and returned directly to the United States without ever landing. Refueled several times mid-air, they flew a round-trip mission lasting 37 hours. Remarkably, this isn't even a record: in 2001, six B-2s struck Afghanistan from Missouri in a 44-hour mission. Theoretically, the bomber can cover 11,000 kilometers without refueling, and over 18,000 km with a single aerial refueling. The B-2's reputation for endurance is well established. But the pilots' stamina is even more impressive. They are, of course, trained for these kinds of ultra-long missions: each one has spent long hours in a flight simulator that…
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
New Fuzes For GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrators Requested By USAF
The U.S. Air Force is exploring new options to help with the development of improved fuzes for the 30,000-pound GBU-57/B Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP) bunker buster bomb. The service is also interested in additional sources for the production of other key GBU-57/B components, as well as assistance in sustaining its current stocks of the bombs. This follows the first combat use of the MOP in strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities last month. The Air Force Life Cycle Management Center (AFLCMC) put out a contracting notice regarding potential GBU-57 production and support needs earlier today. The total size of the existing MOP inventory is classified, but Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David Allvin said that it is currently being expanded at a hearing before members of the Senate Appropriations Committee on June 26. At present, the B-2 stealth bomber is the only aircraft cleared to employ the massive bunker buster operationally, and can carry just two of them per sortie. The B-21 Raider stealth bomber is also expected to have the MOP in its arsenal, but it's likely it will only be able to carry one of the bombs at a time. B-52s have been used to drop them during testing, as well. 'Fuze development and integration into the components of the GBU-57 weapon system, to include integration and software modification within the KMU-612 tail-kit and the BLU-127 fuzing system,' is among the stated areas of interest in the contracting notice. The KMU-612/B, of which there are many variants already, is the tail section of the GBU-57/B, which contains the GPS-assisted inertial navigation system (INS) guidance package and other systems. The BLU-127/B is the penetrating 'warhead' that is combined with the KMU-612/B and other components to form a complete MOP. The contracting notice also lists the production of KMU-612E/B variants of the tail kit, production of other unspecified MOP components, sustainment support ('to include, but not limited to: support of all MOP hardware and support equipment; MOP tail kit repairs/retrofits; and MOP Engineering Technical Support'), and 'obsolescence support and validation,' as areas where the Air Force is looking for new assistance. 'This Sources Sought is for informational planning purposes and it is not to be construed as a commitment by the Government for any actual procurement of materials, machinery, or services,' the notice also stresses. 'This notice does not constitute a solicitation or a promise of a solicitation in the future. This Sources Sought does not commit the Government to a contract for any supply or service.' The strikes on Iran in June have put a new spotlight on the GBU-57/B and made the bombs something of a household name. The need for an option to hold the Iranian nuclear enrichment facility at Fordow at risk without having to resort to using a nuclear bomb was central to the bomb's original development. You can read more about the munition's backstory in our recent interview with a retired Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) scientist who took part in testing that led up to the MOP program here. Me, standing at the edge of a MOP crater on a mountain top at White Sands Test Range, where detailed studies of massive earth penetrators were studied for effectiveness against deeply buried targets by the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) —formerly Defense Nuclear Agency.… — Gary Stradling (@gary_stradling) June 24, 2025 The MOP has been upgraded multiple times already since the munition first began entering service in the early 2010s, particularly with regard to its fuzing. This is an especially important aspect of the bunker buster's design, as TWZ was noted previously: 'Reliable fuzing, in general, is particularly important for bunker buster bombs, the components of which have to be able to withstand additional forces as the munition burrows through hard material.' 'Bombs like the MOP … that are designed to penetrate very deeply have additional specialized fuzing needs, especially for employment against targets where pre-strike intelligence about the exact depth and/or physical layout is limited. Work on advanced void-sensing fuzes that can detect when a munition has breached into a sufficiently large space, such as a room in an underground facility, is an area of development that has already been of particular interest for the U.S. military for years now. A fuze that is able to just effectively 'count' floors to help determine depth to detonate the bomb at a certain level for maximum damage would also be a useful addition.' : The capabilities offered by the existing fuzes for the MOPs were on full display in the strikes on Iran, according to the Pentagon. Each of the 12 MOPs dropped on Fordow had their 'fuze programmed bespokely' allowing 'each weapon to achieve a particular effect inside the target,' and all of the bombs 'had a unique, desired impact angle, arrival, [and] final heading,' Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff U.S. Air Force Gen. Dan 'Razin' Caine explained at a press briefing on June 26. At Fordow, B-2 stealth bombers also notably dropped all of the MOPs on just two impact points, with six bombs striking each one, successively burrowing down to the actual target below. Though the Pentagon has said the overall mission was a resounding success, the actual immediate results of the strikes and their broader impacts on Iran's nuclear ambitions remain major points of contention. At the time of writing, the U.S. military's most recent public assessment is that the Iranian nuclear program has been set back between one to two years, but the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has said domestic enrichment activities could resume in the country within a matter of months. Regardless, any further improvements to the GBU-57's fuzing arrangement or other aspects of the design will now benefit from lessons learned from the employment of the munitions on targets in Iran. The combat use of the MOP has also offered Iran and other potential adversaries (including Russia and China, which have strong relations with the regime in Tehran) an opportunity to try to glean key details about the bombs. Additional upgrades and modifications to the MOP could then be required to account for any attempts to devise countermeasures to its existing capabilities. The unique deep-penetrating conventional strike capability offered by the MOP, paired with the B-2 (and the future B-21), could be called upon in future conflicts well beyond Iran. China and Russia both have well-established histories of building deep underground facilities, including mountain caverns for aircraft and submarines, and continue to expand their subterranean infrastructure. North Korea has also been pushing to grow its underground capabilities, in no small part due to the threat of U.S. strikes. 'This is not a static environment,' Air Force Chief of Staff Allvin also said at the June 26 hearing before the Senate Appropriations Committee. 'Now that we know that it was successful, I'm pretty sure that people who are potential adversaries might look at that and they may adapt.' Allvin was responding to a direct question about whether a replacement for the MOP is in development. The Air Force is working on a successor design, currently referred to as the Next Generation Penetrator (NGP), which could evolve into a family of munitions, if it has not begun to already. 'So, we are constantly looking at, whether it be those [MOP replacement options], or an advanced technology, or advanced tactics, to be able to get ahead and make sure, as the threat moves to defend, we have the ability to put the kit together that we can continue to have events like last Saturday night happen if we're called upon again,' Gen. Allvin added at the hearing last month, referring to the strikes on Iran. 'It might be something different than the GBU-57, some advancement based on what the enemy might do.' In the meantime, the strikes on Iran have only cemented the importance of the GBU-57 and of ensuring those bombs remain as capable as possible of holding especially deeply buried targets at risk. Contact the author: joe@
Yahoo
01-07-2025
- Yahoo
Fact Check: Video doesn't show 'bunker-buster' bombs dropped on Iran's Fordo nuclear site
Claim: A video authentically showed the aftermath of 'bunker-busting' bombs dropped by U.S. military at the Fordo nuclear facility in Iran in late June 2025. Rating: Context: Though it was unclear exactly what the footage showed, a version appeared on TikTok on June 16, 2025, days before the U.S. struck three nuclear sites, including Fordo, with "bunker-buster" bombs. In late June 2025, days after the U.S. military struck three nuclear facilities in Iran, a video (archived) circulated online claiming to authentically show the aftermath of "bunker-busting" bombs at Fordo nuclear facility in the Middle Eastern country. One version of the video on Facebook carried the caption: "One of the entry points of a US bunker-busting bomb during yesterday's attack on Iran's Fordow [sic] nuclear facility." The video showed several people descending into a large hole in the ground on a rubble-filled slope. Fordo was one of the targets of the June 21, 2025, air strikes by American planes carrying GBU-57 A/B Massive Ordnance Penetrator bombs — colloquially known as "bunker-buster" bombs for their deep range. The video also circulated on X (archived), YouTube (archived), Instagram (archived) and TikTok (archived), claiming to show the strike on Fordo. However, the video was miscaptioned. Though it appeared to be authentic, meaning not generated by artificial intelligence, we found an upload (archived) dated days before June 21, 2025, meaning it could not have shown fresh aftermath caused by bombs dropped on that date. We reached out to the TikTok user who posted the footage on June 16 to ask where it was recorded and what it showed and await a reply. The extent of the damage to Fordo, Natanz and Isfahan, the three sites struck by American bombs on June 21, remained unknown at the time of this writing. According to U.S. President Donald Trump on Truth Social on June 22, "Obliteration" was "an accurate term" for the damage done to the sites. U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said on June 22 the strikes "devastated" Iranian nuclear facilities. However, a leaked report from the Defense Intelligence Agency, the Pentagon's intelligence arm, reported on by CNN found the bombs "did not destroy" the sites. Trump responded to the leaked report by calling CNN "FAKE NEWS" and repeating that "THE NUCLEAR SITES IN IRAN ARE COMPLETELY DESTROYED!" Satellite imagery of Fordo showed at least six impact craters at the site. Officials were still assessing how much damage the strikes caused to the largely underground facility at the time of this writing. Béchard, Deni Ellis, and Dean Visser. "Why This Is the Only Bomb That Could Destroy Iran's Nuclear Bunker—Under 300 Feet of Rock." Scientific American, 18 June 2025, Cohen, Natasha Bertrand, Katie Bo Lillis, Zachary. "Exclusive: Early US Intel Assessment Suggests Strikes on Iran Did Not Destroy Nuclear Sites, Sources Say | CNN Politics." CNN, 24 June 2025, Iran - Persian, Kurdish, Luri | Britannica. 25 June 2025, Ismay, John. "A Timeline of the U.S. Attack in Iran." New York Times, 22 June 2025, @realDonaldTrump. "FAKE NEWS CNN, TOGETHER WITH THE FAILING NEW YORK TIMES, HAVE TEAMED UP IN AN ATTEMPT TO DEMEAN ONE OF THE MOST SUCCESSFUL MILITARY STRIKES IN HISTORY." Trump's Truth, 24 June 2025, ---. "Monumental Damage Was Done to All Nuclear Sites in Iran, as Shown by Satellite Images." Trump's Truth, 22 June 2025, ---. "We Have Completed Our Very Successful Attack on the Three Nuclear Sites in Iran, Including Fordow, Natanz, and Esfahan." Trump's Truth, 21 June 2025, RISING, DAVID. "What to Know about Bunker-Buster Bombs Unleashed on Iran's Fordo Nuclear Facility." AP News, 17 June 2025, "Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Dan Caine Hold a Press Conference." Department of Defense, 22 June 2025, "US Officially Enters War, Iran Vows: 'You Will Pay.'" Mehr News Agency, 23 June 2025,
South China Morning Post
25-06-2025
- Politics
- South China Morning Post
US bunker-busting GBU-57 in Iran: experts in China assess combat debut
Chinese military analysts have closely followed Saturday's US strikes on Iranian facilities, and especially the bombs used – the GBU-57, a powerful 'bunker buster' designed to penetrate deeply buried targets. While praising the success of the B-2's long-range delivery and the bunker buster's performance, they also pointed out the limitations in its effectiveness, especially against sites like Fordow that are deep underground. Mainland China is believed to have the world's most extensive underground bunker systems and its own bunker-busting weapons , as well as ambitions to target facilities, including those deep within the mountains of Taiwan. What did the US bomber strike entail and how is the action viewed by Chinese military analysts? And what is China's approach to the development of its own bunker-busting arsenal? Combat debut A total of 14 GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrators (MOPs) were dropped by seven B-2 stealth bombers in the early hours of Sunday local time, striking Iran's heavily fortified Fordow nuclear site as well as facilities at Natanz.
Wall Street Journal
23-06-2025
- General
- Wall Street Journal
The U.S. Used Its Biggest Bunker Busters in Warfare for the First Time
A GBU-57, or the Massive Ordnance Penetrator bomb, at Whiteman Air Base in Missouri. (U.S. Air Force/AP)
