Biggest Non Nuke Dropped in Afghanistan

[dynamics]

Originally Posted by tartare

Wifey who is a tv news producer wants to know if its the first time moab has been used in anger? Apparently not?

CNN reporting that it is. Perhaps more of a live test, than a necessity.

[dynamics]

Originally Posted by Saintsman

Just curious as to the effect on the aircraft as the bomb is released. It's one big load to suddenly not be carrying.

Sudden pitch up followed by an immediate correction, by the looks of it...

[ExAscoteer]

Not much different to dropping an MSP then.

[ORAC]

GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast (MOAB)

Alternatively - Mother Of All Bombs.

Not sure which name came first.

[TURIN]

Originally Posted by Molemot

I seem to recall that the Grand Slam was 22,000lbs.....(!)

I also seem to recall that it was designed to create an earthquake like effect. Probably more effective against underground tunnels than an airburst perhaps.

[ORAC]

Wont damage the structure as much, but much more efficient at killing the inhabitants. The initial overpressure then following rarefaction ruptures the lungs of those in the caves and tunnels - in fact the channel and increase the effect.

What Is The MOAB? An Explainer On The Biggest Non-Nuclear Bomb

[TEEEJ]

Originally Posted by Chris Scott

Remarkable that this MOAB had to be dropped from the cargo ramp of a Herc, presumably in the absence of any current bomber capable of accommodating it?

Roy Chadwick's late-1930s design, slightly modified, might have done the job:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_...aduct_1945.jpg

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_..._Slam_bomb.jpg

The B-52 and B-2 can carry the heavier GBU-57.



MOPping Up: The USA?s 30,000 Pound GBU-57 Bomb

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massiv...nce_Penetrator

[Just This Once...]

Originally Posted by Chris Scott

Remarkable that this MOAB had to be dropped from the cargo ramp of a Herc, presumably in the absence of any current bomber capable of accommodating it?

You should probably look at that from the other way round. The USAF has the flexibility to be able to drop munitions such as this from in-theatre aircraft without the disproportionate effort required to use a B-52 or B-2 for the same task.

[Pontius Navigator]

Originally Posted by Lyneham Lad

According to that font of all knowledge, the GBU-43/B weighs in at 22,600lbs.

A Reuters reports 21,600lbs. As Reuters report was probably from the Pentagon I think we can say Grand Slam has it.

How do you count casualties with such certainty?

As ORAC says, the MOAB kills by overpressure so maybe a satellite count from the evacuation. With Grand Slam it would take weeks of careful mining to excavate the camouflet.

[ericferret]

Danger UXB? (C) Steve Fareham :: Geograph Britain and Ireland

The Lincolnshire Popular Front has aquired it's own grand slam which we have hidden in a secret location. Now waiting for "Just Jane" to become airworthy again and we are in business.

http://www.lincsaviation.co.uk/

[pax britanica]

Dont think it would be much good on a B2 kind of ruins all that Stealthy stuff. I assumed it would be B52 as the carrier as it must seem like an age to a Herc crew lugging it over bad guy territory and then getting out of the way. Precision and non precison bomb at the same time

[dragartist]

Looking at google earth it appears they have cleared the scrap compound up at Laguna Airfield at Yuma Proving Ground since I was last there 6 years ago. Still some remnants of the early airdrop tests.
Ex Ascot - More like a PURIBAD really. similar methods for separating the payload from the platform after extraction.
I do think however that the Grandslam approach would have made the cave system unusable.

[ancientaviator62]

If we discuss weight dropped and trim change for the Hercules then a triple ULLA drop (42000lbs) from a C130K might take some beating.
However I think the 'daddy' of them all has to be the ICBM dropped from a C5 !

[ORAC]

Pax,

The B-2 carries it internally - that exotic shape is wrapped around a very large bomb bay.


https://www.pond5.com/stock-footage/...er-buster.html

[pax britanica]

Orac

Thanks for clearing that up-I thought it very odd otherwise . I think the picture perspective makes the bomb look bigger than it is and the B2 Bomb Bay smaller than it is.

A B52 with one either side would pretty cool though.

I wonder if this was also a demo to Lil Fat Kim sought of 'look out we don't need nukes to destroy underground complexes'. Someone as bad as Kim must a have a super gigantic underground complex if the James Bond law that all megalomaniac baddies live in underground fortresses with pools of steaming liquids , men and women in tight clothes watching radar screens and klaxons

[gums]

Salute!

The B-2 picture seems to make the bomb look bigger than it really is.

OTOH, I did "fit checks" on the plane for the JDAM and another weapon. The bays are huge! You can put your auto in one. After all, it can carry 80 MK-82 boms, no kidding - 80 friggin' bombs all internal. Each bay handles 8 x 2000 lb JDAM on rotary launchers.

We have the main Special Ops base here, besides the Armament Development folks. So my neighbor (a MC-130 pilot) across the street dropped one of the older 'Daisy Cutter" bombs back in Desert Storm. We later had another MC-130 troop move in two doors down, but he didn't drop a big one in the second Iraq deal, and I don't think any were used. They said the loss of weight was not all that bad as long as you had the bird trimmed strongly nose down before the sucker rolled out the back.

Interestingly, we tried the original FAE doofers back in my day in 'nam. They were advertised the same about overpressure and using it on cave/tunnel complexes. They didn't have the mixture mechanism perfected and some of them fizzled and others only produced a small fireball and no "explosion", they were kinda like a Hollywood special effect with lottsa deisel fuel and gasoline.

They ain't kidding about the shockwave effects, though. We saw the bad guys shooting right outta the smoke from our nape. But if we dropped a MK-82 or bigger close to a gun position they didn't shoot for a minute or more. 'course, a direct hit was "game over".

Gums sends...

[The Sultan]

Reported only 36 killed in MOAB strike which equates to $500K per kill. Not a good return on use of a limited asset. In Trumpet's world at $16M a piece the MOAB is three rounds of golf.

[BlackIsle]

North Korean missile facilities next on the mailing list?

[langleybaston]

The problem with NK may be that nobody dares tell Lil Fat Kim what he needs to know, so he does the nuke test and then DT gets proud of the military again.

On second thoughts, why not?

[SASless]

PN,

When you get into the "Kick Ass and take no names!" Mode....who cares about doing a Tally of bad guys rendered Combat Ineffective!