Destroying Iran’s final undamaged nuclear site required an immensely powerful weapon — a task only the United States was equipped to handle, due to its possession of a 15-ton “bunker buster” bomb.
The Fordow uranium enrichment facility, hidden approximately 300 feet beneath a mountain near Qom, roughly two hours from Tehran, was built to withstand most conventional attacks. To reach such a deeply buried site, an extraordinary level of explosive force was needed.
That force comes from the GBU-57A/B Massive Ordnance Penetrator, a bomb developed by Boeing specifically for the U.S. Air Force. It holds the distinction of being the heaviest non-nuclear weapon in America’s arsenal.
Because of its tremendous size and weight, this bomb can only be deployed by a B-2 Spirit stealth bomber — an advanced aircraft that Israel’s military does not have in its fleet.
“The United States controls the bomber and the bomb,” John Spencer, chair of urban warfare studies at the Modern War Institute at West Point military academy, told The NY Post.
According to a 2013 Wall Street Journal report, the U.S. spent more than $500 million developing the weapon, which was engineered to reach the depths of the Fordow facility and obliterate the critical centrifuges housed inside. At the time, 20 units were reportedly produced for U.S. military use.
Another class of bunker-busting ordnance, the GBU-37, weighs in at 5,000 pounds — significantly smaller than the GBU-57A/B.
“By weight and kinetic force, the GBU-57A/B Massive Ordnance Penetrator is designed to penetrate a certain amount of distance into the ground before it blows,” said Spencer.
“That’s why these bunker busters are called Penetrators. They penetrate the ground before they explode. The explosion is strategically delayed.”
While Washington has provided Israel with lighter bunker-busting munitions, it has consistently withheld the Massive Ordnance Penetrator from any of its allies.
“I’ve seen 500-pounders, and they’ll shake your teeth when they go off. It’s like an earthquake,” said Spencer. “This will be much more than that.”

{Matzav.com}