Article

2003-03-11 Iraq

Archived material is restricted to Rantburg regulars and members. If you need access email fred.pruitt=at=gmail.com with your nick to be added to the members list. There is no charge to join Rantburg as a member.

Posted by Frank G 2003-03-11 11:28 am|| E-Mail|| Front Page|| [1742 views since 2007-05-07] Top

1 The new superbomb is an upgrade of an already devastating weapon used by the Americans against al Qaeda and the Taliban.

*Nicknamed Big Blue, it contains 21,000lb of conventional high explosive, an increase from the 15,000lb BLU-82 "daisy cutter" used at least four times on tunnels and caves in Afghanistan.

* It was originally designed to clear helicopter-landing zones in Vietnam and works by detonating a few feet above ground level and destroying everything in its path.

* The warhead is packed with Gelled Slurry Explosive, which is detonated with a high explosive booster. The slurry is poured into the bomb's casing which is then loaded on to a plane and launched by parachute at 6,000ft.

* Eleven BLU-82s were dropped during the first Gulf War, according to some experts "as much for their psychological effect as their destructive power".

Posted by Frank G 2003-03-11 09:30:55|| 2003-03-11 09:30:55|| Front Page Top

2 Unlike the old Daisy Cutter, this one is GPS-guided. It looks more like a JSOW than anything else.

A really, really, really BIG JSOW.

Posted by Crescend 2003-03-11 09:55:09|| 2003-03-11 09:55:09|| Front Page Top

3 The bomb, known as the Massive Ordnance Air Blast, or MOAB, is guided to its target by satellite signals. This was to be its first live test. The bomb is so powerful that it's detonation was expected to create a mushroom cloud visible for miles. The Air Force bomb scheduled for its initial test Tuesday in Florida is much bigger than another conventional bomb. The next-biggest is the 15,000-pound BLU-82, dubbed the Daisy Cutter. Jake Swinson, spokesman for the Air Armament Center at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., said there would be no onsite news coverage of the test for safety reasons, but an Air Force chase plane would take video that would be made available later to news organizations.
Other officials said the Air Force expected to have the bomb available for use in an Iraq war.
"If the warfighter wanted to use it, I'm sure we could make some available," Swinson said, adding that he had no information on whether or when the weapon might be used in combat.
Test is scheduled between 12-5 CST. Video should be available for tonights news. Bet Fox runs it.

Posted by Steve 2003-03-11 11:57:47|| 2003-03-11 11:57:47|| Front Page Top

4 Fox is already reporting that it was tested at 1pm "their time" (i.e. Eglin time). I assumed that was Eastern, but it may be Central.

Posted by Angie Schultz 2003-03-11 13:44:48|| [darkblogules.blogspot.com] 2003-03-11 13:44:48|| Front Page Top

5 1 PM Central it was. Fox News has been running a still picture of this beast. Massive round body, painted orange for the test. Huge fins on the back that would fold out to retard desent after the drop. You can see the white circle on the rear that houses the GPS antenna. Crescend, this thing doesn't look anything like a JSOW. If anything, it looks like a 1950's first generation H-bomb. And the troops have already renamed it, MOAB stands for Mother Of All Bombs. I like it.

Posted by Steve 2003-03-11 13:57:49|| 2003-03-11 13:57:49|| Front Page Top

6 How about a second test in say California on those bastards that wrecked the 9-11 memorial, I am not a violent person, but those ___ckers need a beating bad

Posted by Wills 2003-03-11 15:40:45|| 2003-03-11 15:40:45|| Front Page Top

7 MOAB is also nicknamed by some Air Force officials as "Mother of All Bomb".

Posted by BigFire 2003-03-11 16:18:28|| 2003-03-11 16:18:28|| Front Page Top

8 I'm still trying to figure why it has to be precision-guided, when it'll take out an entire county...

Posted by Fred 2003-03-11 16:41:46|| 2003-03-11 16:41:46|| Front Page Top

9 well, it was big...fox just showed a clip of the blast taken from afar, but it doesn't look nuclear. The disappointing part is the lack of a view where it sucks the oxygen away then the superheated gases burn everything within a country mile to a cinder....poor bastards

Posted by Frank G 2003-03-11 18:15:36|| 2003-03-11 18:15:36|| Front Page Top

10 I must've seen the wrong picture, then...the one I saw was not as much wide as it was very long, bright safety-red. Maybe that was the "Hard-Target" weapon?

Posted by Crescend 2003-03-11 18:27:54|| 2003-03-11 18:27:54|| Front Page Top

11 http://i.cnn.net/cnn/2003/US/03/11/sprj.irq.moab/story.moab.pentagon.jpg

This is the weapon I am referring to. It's certainly rounded, but much longer than it is wide (unlike the much pudgier Daisy Cutter). It has two winglets extending from about midway from the nose. A black "plug" in the back has what looks like a company logo on it. This seems to be the "stowed" configuration, without anything extended. I have not seen the actual video of the test, and this was the only image I've seen of it.

Posted by Crescend 2003-03-11 18:35:34|| 2003-03-11 18:35:34|| Front Page Top

12 Crescend - that was the one - I agree with Steve, they need to design nicknames so that the media can get them straight...in the video it actually might reflect the hard-target penetration...it had much less blast-acceleration outward, not like the daisy cutter vids I've seen

Posted by Frank G 2003-03-11 18:49:05|| 2003-03-11 18:49:05|| Front Page Top

13 Just saw a picture of the whole weapon on the news, the shot Fox was running was just of the back end and it looked like it curved to a end. Boy, was I wrong! It looks to be about 4 ft in diameter and 30 feet long. Has short stubby wings about half way along the side and has a curved point. Looks like a space ship from a early Buck Rodgers serial. This is the MOAB, the hard target penetrator is much thinner and has the classic BLU shape with fins front and back.

Posted by Steve 2003-03-11 19:38:23|| 2003-03-11 19:38:23|| Front Page Top

14:51 Russell
08:34 liberalhawk
08:12 raptor
07:23 raptor
04:04 bernardz
02:44 Bulldog
00:55 R. McLeod
00:46 Anonymous
00:39 R. McLeod
00:35 R. McLeod
23:44 Ed Becerra
23:12 cdw
22:46 Drew
22:41 Dar Steckelberg
22:37 mojo
22:29 Drew
22:13 jon lemming
22:05 Anonymous
22:01 Anonymous
21:57 Chuck
21:52 Anonymous
21:50 Chuck
21:49 Chuck
21:48 Anonymous
Merry-Go-Blog