Biggest Non Nuke Dropped in Afghanistan
 

CNN reporting...

Dropped from a cargo aircraft apparently. An ISIS camp and tunnel system was the target.

http://edition.cnn.com/2017/04/13/po...omb/index.html

Excellent. Out.

Loadie with his finger on the button then!

- Reuters report.

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

22,000 lbs was the total weight of the Grand Slam; according to Wikipedia (which we all know can be relied upon without question) it "only" contained 9,136 lbs of explosive.

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

That'll smart a bit...

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

http://i.imgur.com/CXJiuMK.jpg


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i9H50tHiHjs

The laborers in NK are being told to dig a little deeper.

didn't look like an air blast to me ?

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

Same as a laxative perhaps.

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

My hat blew off today. I now know why.

DJT apparently letting the military just get on with it. There's a thought.

Let's see some BDA before we get too euphoric. We don't quite have a solid track record of hitting barn doors with banjos in that area.

Big bombs
 

Salute!

Living here at Eglin where many weapons have been developed and tested, I have no small insight.

I helped with the intitial JDAM bomb to increase accuracy and then employ a terminal seeker to enhance the "end game". Did pilot displays and controls for the Mmwave Maverick. Did crew displays for the USN A-12 before it was cancelled. And the beat goes on.

So I drove out west 30 miles and found a good hill to see the second MOAB test and enjoyed it. It does not have a "sharp" crack as the other bombs I dropped in combat or witnessed from the ground. The Herc pulls a drogue chute and then lets the bomb roll out. The chute is released and the MOAB guidance takes over. I watched with my binoculars until the thing got just below the trees on a small ridge. Then the musroom cloud and 20 seconds later I heard it.

The bomb is not a "contact fuze" demolition doofer. It is some kinda a "thermobaric" thing and explodes a hundred feet or more above ground.

Later,

Gums sends...

Salute gums!

"The bomb is not a "contact fuze" demolition doofer. I thing is a "thermobaric" thing and explodes a hundred feet or more above ground."

Very different from Grand Slam, then, which was a deeply-penetrating earthquake bomb with a very strong casing.

So how long does it take to fall down with the chute from what typical height?

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