Reference News website reported on June 20 that the Financial Times website published an article on June 18 with the title "Can America's 'Bunker Buster' Destroy Iran's Deeply Buried Nuclear Facilities?" The author is John Rathbone. Compiled as follows: If the United States intervenes in the conflict between Israel and Iran, it will almost certainly play a key role in destroying Iran's underground uranium enrichment facilities. This task will most likely be assigned to some American bombers because they need to be large enough to carry a 30,000-pound (approximately 13.6 tons) precision-guided bomb, the GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP). This is the most powerful non-nuclear bomb in the world. It is reported that this bomb is 6 meters long and can be dropped by B-2 stealth bombers. It can penetrate more than 60 meters of rock and soil (depending on soil hardness) before exploding. Since it is a precision-guided bomb, theoretically multiple bombs can be dropped on the same location. Therefore, this heavy penetrator bomb is stronger than any known conventional bombs in Israel's arsenal. Its power may be sufficient to destroy most of Iran's underground uranium enrichment facilities, especially the Natanz nuclear facility. This facility is believed to be buried 20 meters underground and surrounded by about 2 meters of reinforced concrete. However, this bomb may not be enough to destroy Iran's more heavily protected Fordow nuclear facility - even though it was specifically developed for this target. The Fordow nuclear facility is hidden deep in the mountains, buried under 80 meters of rock and soil. IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi once said that some of Fordow's most sensitive facilities may be buried deeper, up to half a mile underground (1 mile is approximately 1.6 kilometers). "I've been there many times," he told the Financial Times this month. "To get there, you have to go down a spiral tunnel, down, down, and down." No one can guarantee that a successful bombing raid (or even a series of raids) would be enough to destroy most or all of Fordow's enriched nuclear stockpile. The massive ordnance penetrator is manufactured by Boeing and has been tested at the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico but has never been used in combat. This could bring problems. Robert Pape, a military historian and author of Winning the Air War, said: "This bomb was specifically designed to destroy the Fordow nuclear facility. Destroying this target may require at least two bombs hitting the same location. I believe the US Air Force has the technical capability to do this, but they have never done so in actual combat." The development of the massive ordnance penetrator began in 2002 and was first deployed in 2011, with regular upgrades since then. This bomb is more targeted than large air burst bombs: it carries more explosives, uses extremely hard metal casing designs to penetrate hardened shelters before exploding. It is believed that there are about 20 of these heavy ordnance penetrators in the US arsenal. In 2011, the US Air Force purchased 8 of these bombs and their accessories for $28 million. Only the B-2 "Spirit" stealth bomber can carry and drop the heavy ordnance penetrator. According to the US Air Force, it currently has 20 active B-2 bombers, each capable of carrying two of these bombs, one in each bomb bay. This bomber is manufactured by Northrop Grumman with a range of 11,000 kilometers. With one aerial refueling, its range can reach up to 19,000 kilometers, almost allowing it to reach any target in the world. Pape said that although the massive ordnance penetrator and the B-2 bomber are both formidable, other tactical difficulties still exist to complete the task of destroying the Fordow nuclear facility. Firstly, if more than one bomb needs to be dropped on this nuclear facility, the B-2 bomber may need to circle above the target, making it vulnerable to Iran's air defense systems. "The B-2 is a stealth bomber, but this stealth design is to avoid radar, not to be invisible in all aspects. For example, its bottom is very flat, which makes it as vulnerable to anti-aircraft missiles as a Boeing 737 passenger plane," Pape said. The second challenge involves clearing a safe flight path for the B-2 bomber. This work can be assigned to anti-radar cruise missiles to take out any Iranian radar facilities not yet destroyed by Israeli forces. "But Iran is likely to anticipate the US clearing such a corridor," Pape said. "The bombing raid is likely to succeed, but first we must know that this has never been done before." (Compiled/Julie) Original source: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7517922976944947763/ Disclaimer: This article only represents the author's personal views. Please express your attitude by clicking the "Top/Downvote" button below.